Having a fresh idea when it comes to Giant Monster films is often a recipe for disaster. It usually just ends with the film being an inconceivable mess with a foul looking monster which sounded great on paper band in drawings but looks like it was made by a kindergartner. There are rare times when a fresh idea such as the use of the “found footage” genre of film mixed with Giant Monsters works out for the best.
Rob is about to take a job overseas and his friends have decided to throw a party in his honor. While everyone is celebrating, chaos erupts as the city comes under attack by an unknown force. As Rob and his friends scramble to escape, they will find themselves trapped by a mysterious blood thirsty creature, known only as Cloverfield.
The film was built on the mystery of “What does the Monster look like? This hasn’t been the best plan as any Giant Monster fan knows. The most prominent example is the Sony Godzilla Film, the Studio tried their best to have a major reveal about what the monster would like alike and people weren’t happy when they got to see it. So why did Cloverfield work and Godzilla not?
There are two really definitive reasons why Cloverfield was successful. First, ti did not carry the expectations which were inherent with a Godzilla film. People were hoping Godzilla would look more like his original form. Their was no expectation with the Cloverfield monster and instead resulted in more intrigue of what it would look like. The second is the destruction the monster caused. Godzilla’s destruction seemed to more accidental from his defensive need to fun form the military. Cloverfield on the other hand decapitated the Statue OF Liberty on its way to the city and from there tore the city apart. It was a more savage and bigger threat and would more than likely beat the Sony made Godzilla in a fight.
The biggest complaint with this movie is its use of the shake camera. The technique has often been employed in action movies in an effort to showcase the intensity of the physical movement on the scree. The camera work in Cloverfield was too intense though and many people complained of experiencing motion sickness while watching the movie. the experience of vomiting probably din’t make this film a favorite of several individuals.
Overall, this was a pretty good film which no one was expecting to be as good as it was. I’m kinda cheating and attempting to get this film done before the sequel comes out in hopes of getting a few more page reviews. Hopefully I will succeed and I will more than likely write up the review of the sequel at the other site I write for, Monkeys Fighting Robots. I’ll let you know if and when I do crew.
RATING: B
This season isn’t without its problems. First up it does contain a clip show (A big problem as this blog is always against clip shows). Second, the show continues with the fetch quests from the previous season. It keeps up the discovery of Cybertron relics before moving to the Cyber Keys. It is a small complaints but still worth mentioning.
The series picks up where Transformers: Prime left off and does help to give Bumblebee his own focus. There isn’t much focus on Cybertron after the first episode. It would have been nice to see what other characters were doing and what changes had been made to the planet now that it is inhabitable again. Hopefully this will happen more in season two. Of course, it does go into some new explanations about the Tranformers Universe by introducing the Realm of the Primes, where the former Primes reside.
The team of Autobots is standard by the characteristics they bring to the team. They consist of a novice leader (Bumblebee), the strict rookie (Strongarm), the loose cannon (Sideswipe), the wreaking ball (Grimlock), and a medic (Fixit). Not that the show isn’t able to tell good stories with these characters. Seeing Bumblebee mature to the point he is in a leadership position was a welcome sight for his fans. It was also nice to have Grimlock back into a Transformer series, it would have been nice if he wasn’t a dumb knucklehead with a punch first and ask questions never attitude.
For years I thought the main problem with this film was its treatment of Godzilla. That by stripping away his power, it diminished the monster and gave him less presence when he was on screen. This is not the case at all. After repeated viewings It finally dawned on me why this film is such a terrible experience. Its all because of Audrey Timmons. Audrey offers nothing to the overall story. She doesn’t help anyone but herself. She uses her closeness with her ex-boyfriend to get a scoop and then feels guilty about doing it. She does report in the moment about the nest and give Nick the recognition he deserves but she would have done that anyways as a reporter. She is given far too much of a pass for all the crap she pulls in this film.
New mecha are also introduced in the series. The strike brace is an attachment weapon that helps to cool down the robots and has both defensive and offensive capabilities. It’s a pretty cool piece of hardware. The enemies also get new suits known as Kirschbuum which are meant to be Anti-Valvrave type suit and are incredible destruive. These robot additions help to keep the combat scenes strong but often detracts from the characterization of the show.
This is the 1/144 Future Pink Petit Beargguy. I made this little guy for my wife for Christmas. She hasn’t seen Gundam Build Fighters or its sequel Build Fighters Try but she is a big fan of cute things and loves the color pink. This in mind I decided to build her one of the Beargguy from the series which have become quite popular even among non-Gundam fans.
The Gigantic Project 