Now you can see the Cloverfield monster lay waste to Manhattan in high definition. A group of Manhattanites find the streets of the city that never sleep under siege from a beast of unknown origin and we’re along for the ride as they document their ordeal.
On April 27th, Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is videotaping his friend Beth (Odette Yustman) after they’ve spend the night together. Rob asks her if she’s ever been to Coney Island and he plans to take her to the amusement park. We cut to May 22 and Rob has gotten a job in Japan and his brother Jason’s (Mike Vogel) girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) is giving him a going away party.
Lily gives Rob’s best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) a videocamera to go around and get farewells and testimonials from everyone at the party. Beth shows up at the party with another date at the party and we know that the intervening time has caused she and Rob to drift apart.
He’s excited to see her at the party but that she’s with another man causes him to lash out at her a bit. She leaves with her date and Rob wants to get away from the party so he and some pals go out onto the fire escape.
Moments later loud explosions rock downtown Manhattan and a strange creature is seen toppling the skyscrapers and wreaking havoc to the Big Apple. Several of the friends are trying to escape the city by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on foot, but the beast destroys the bridge and one of them doesn’t make it.
On the bridge, before the attack, Rob had gotten a cellphone call from Beth saying that she’s trapped in her collapsed apartment building and Rob and the three other survivors set out across the smoldering ruins of Manhattan to try and save Beth. They also face the high possibility that they’ll also run into the monster.
Cloverfield finally arrives on Blu-ray and now we can see the hideous monster smash Manhattan in high-def. It’s quite a sight.
Producer J.J. Abrams has succeeded in producing a film that joins previous cinematic monster Godzilla in stomping a major city. That Japanese creation was Abram’s inspiration and he’s truly made an updated version of the Tokyo classic. He keeps things mysterious as we never really find out where the beast sprang from and that’s part of the charm of the film.
The film’s mysterious ad campaign also helped things along. Abrams also uses the destruction of the Statue of Liberty as a set piece and teaser in the trailer to arouse interest, as Independence Day used the wiping out of the White House.
Since this film is supposed to be shot with a handheld camera we gets lots of “shaky” cam shots so beware of motion sickness. Even though some of the characters can be annoying, like Hud who’s the one behind the camera for the most part, the film does offer some excitement that only looks better in Blu-ray.
Cloverfield is presented in 1080p anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by director Matt Reeves. The following are in high-definition. The 28-minute “Document 01.18.08” is a making of feature. The 22-minute “Cloverfield Visual Effects” delves into the computer effects for the film.
The 5-minute “I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!” looks at how they designed the monster. The 4 minute “Clover Fun” is a gag reel. Next are 3 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary by Reeves. There are also 4 minutes of alternate endings, again with optional commentary by Reeves.
One has a different coda and the other creates some mystery that the director though unnecessary. There is also a text link promoting www.cloverfieldfiles.com . Exclusive to the Blu-ray is the “Special Investigation Mode” which shows you the track of the creature’s chaos as well as offering trivia and other items as the movie plays.
The beast is Blu and in the future we might discover some more videos from the day that New York was attacked (aka a sequel). Until then you can watch all the destruction in high-def.
Cloverfield [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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