...an A for effort, a B for visuals, a C for content, and a C for photography, the latter, of course, being intentionally herky-jerky.
Yet despite my reservations about the movie's use of the handicam, I liked the film's CGI graphics. After 9/11, films showing attacks on New York City are probably not in the best of taste, yet if it has to be, doing it as science fiction is probably the best route. The scenes of panic and destruction look impressive. The monster, what little we see of it, looks impressive. The smaller crab-like critters that drop off the monster look impressive. The shots in the subway system look impressive. And the shots on the rooftop look impressive. (One of them actually made me dizzy.)
The movie's drawback is in not making us care enough about what is happening with the shaky camera work. Even though there is much one can praise about cinema-vérité style, using it to tell an eighty-four-minute horror story with little meaningful story, dialogue, or character interaction probably isn't the best use of the technique. The fact is, once past the monster's initial attack on the city, "Cloverfield" isn't all that suspenseful or scary. The movie picks up a dash of excitement at the very end, but it can be a stretch getting there.
Still, for those viewers with the appropriate playback equipment, the improved BD picture and sound do increase one's enjoyment of the film. I know they did mine.
Video:
The filmmakers used various digital cameras to shoot "Cloverfield," most of them commercial-grade consumer camcorders with a maximum resolution of 1080. This resolution is technically "high definition" but nowhere near as good as what the best conventional print cameras offer. The filmmakers meant for this low-quality filming to better give the finished product the look and feel of a typical home movie. What that means is that they didn't want it to look super clear, sharp, or finely detailed.
The whole gimmick of the movie, as I've said, is for it to look as though it were shot on the spot during the monster attack on a comparatively cheap camera. So when you think about it, what's the point, really, of seeing it in high definition where it looks far better than any amateur photographer could possibly have captured it with a consumer-grade camera, especially in technical areas like lighting and depth of field?
Now, I'm not saying the BD doesn't look better than the SD version. It certainly does. But a cleaner picture also takes away in part from the movie's so-called realism. I suppose this is all beside the point, though, for viewers who want their cake and eat it, too. They want the roller-coaster feel of the documentary experience, but they also want a crystal-clear picture and rocking surround sound. The two "wants" seem at odds to me, and unless you can blot out the idea that this is supposed to be a real documentary, you'll have a tough time accepting the new, sharper format.
Be that as it may, Paramount now present the 1.85:1 ratio picture on Blu-ray disc using a VC-1/1080p encode. Although the results vary somewhat from scene to scene, the video quality is much better delineated than in standard def. The filmmakers meant for the color palette to look deliberately matter-of-fact, with large areas of the screen in constant darkness, so don't expect anything in this Blu-ray version to dazzle the eye; but do expect the video to look clearer, sharper, and better focused than on the SD version. There is much better shadow detail and color coordination as well. In fact, the whole HD experience in "Cloverfield" reminded me of the work of a very good professional photographer who knows exactly what he's doing but is pretending not to.
Audio:
The biggest improvement in the Blu-ray edition is the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio, whose bass thunders more dramatically, more tautly, more strongly at the outset than ever before on disc, darn near ripping down the walls with its quietly escalating bass. And that's just a taste of what's to come, which includes an excellent stereo spread, excellent surround activity, and excellent midrange clarity. At the first entrance of the creature, the audio makes a scarier impact than anything else in the film. However, all of this seems more at odds than ever with the movie's supposedly having been made using a consumer-grade video camera. I mean, there is no way in the world anybody could capture this kind of sound outside a movie studio. Bombs, bullets, and bazookas blaze in all directions. But if you can forget for a few minutes the film's goofy documentary premise, you'll have a good time.
Extras:
The bonus item that is exclusive to the Blu-ray disc is a "Special Investigation Mode" that allows you to watch the movie along with a GPS tracker that displays on a map of Manhattan the locations of the main characters, the military, and the creature, along with text notes, radar scans, and other fun stuff.
The rest of the extras duplicate those on the standard-definition edition, except that most of them are now in high definition. To begin, there is the mandatory audio commentary, this one by director Matt Reeves. After that is a series of documentaries and featurettes, the first of which is "The Making of Cloverfield," twenty-eight minutes and self-explanatory. The next is "Cloverfield Visual Effects," twenty-two minutes and also self-explanatory. The third is "I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge," six minutes on the creature design. And the final featurette is "Clover Fun," about four minutes of bloopers, although it's hard to tell since much of the film appears to have been improvised.
In addition, there are four deleted scenes titled "Congrats Rob," "When You're in Japan," "I Call That a Date," and "It's Going to Hurt," with optional director commentary and totalling a little over three minutes. In addition, there are two alternate endings, totalling a bit more than four minutes, also with optional commentary. Finally, Paramount's press site says they have included a number of Easter eggs hidden away on the disc, for which I cannot vouch.
Things wind down with sixteen scene selections but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Thoughts:
I'd give the Blu-ray edition of "Cloverfield" an A for effort, a B for visuals, a C for content, and a C for photography, the latter, of course, being intentionally herky-jerky on the filmmakers' part. If you liked the movie in standard definition picture and sound, you'll love it in high-def, despite the contradictions the improvements bring to the movie's "documentary" concept.
The movie's drawback is in not making us care enough about what is happening with the shaky camera work. Even though there is much one can praise about cinema-vérité style, using it to tell an eighty-four-minute horror story with little meaningful story, dialogue, or character interaction probably isn't the best use of the technique. The fact is, once past the monster's initial attack on the city, "Cloverfield" isn't all that suspenseful or scary. The movie picks up a dash of excitement at the very end, but it can be a stretch getting there.
Still, for those viewers with the appropriate playback equipment, the improved BD picture and sound do increase one's enjoyment of the film. I know they did mine.
Video:
The filmmakers used various digital cameras to shoot "Cloverfield," most of them commercial-grade consumer camcorders with a maximum resolution of 1080. This resolution is technically "high definition" but nowhere near as good as what the best conventional print cameras offer. The filmmakers meant for this low-quality filming to better give the finished product the look and feel of a typical home movie. What that means is that they didn't want it to look super clear, sharp, or finely detailed.
The whole gimmick of the movie, as I've said, is for it to look as though it were shot on the spot during the monster attack on a comparatively cheap camera. So when you think about it, what's the point, really, of seeing it in high definition where it looks far better than any amateur photographer could possibly have captured it with a consumer-grade camera, especially in technical areas like lighting and depth of field?
Now, I'm not saying the BD doesn't look better than the SD version. It certainly does. But a cleaner picture also takes away in part from the movie's so-called realism. I suppose this is all beside the point, though, for viewers who want their cake and eat it, too. They want the roller-coaster feel of the documentary experience, but they also want a crystal-clear picture and rocking surround sound. The two "wants" seem at odds to me, and unless you can blot out the idea that this is supposed to be a real documentary, you'll have a tough time accepting the new, sharper format.
Be that as it may, Paramount now present the 1.85:1 ratio picture on Blu-ray disc using a VC-1/1080p encode. Although the results vary somewhat from scene to scene, the video quality is much better delineated than in standard def. The filmmakers meant for the color palette to look deliberately matter-of-fact, with large areas of the screen in constant darkness, so don't expect anything in this Blu-ray version to dazzle the eye; but do expect the video to look clearer, sharper, and better focused than on the SD version. There is much better shadow detail and color coordination as well. In fact, the whole HD experience in "Cloverfield" reminded me of the work of a very good professional photographer who knows exactly what he's doing but is pretending not to.
Audio:
The biggest improvement in the Blu-ray edition is the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio, whose bass thunders more dramatically, more tautly, more strongly at the outset than ever before on disc, darn near ripping down the walls with its quietly escalating bass. And that's just a taste of what's to come, which includes an excellent stereo spread, excellent surround activity, and excellent midrange clarity. At the first entrance of the creature, the audio makes a scarier impact than anything else in the film. However, all of this seems more at odds than ever with the movie's supposedly having been made using a consumer-grade video camera. I mean, there is no way in the world anybody could capture this kind of sound outside a movie studio. Bombs, bullets, and bazookas blaze in all directions. But if you can forget for a few minutes the film's goofy documentary premise, you'll have a good time.
Extras:
The bonus item that is exclusive to the Blu-ray disc is a "Special Investigation Mode" that allows you to watch the movie along with a GPS tracker that displays on a map of Manhattan the locations of the main characters, the military, and the creature, along with text notes, radar scans, and other fun stuff.
The rest of the extras duplicate those on the standard-definition edition, except that most of them are now in high definition. To begin, there is the mandatory audio commentary, this one by director Matt Reeves. After that is a series of documentaries and featurettes, the first of which is "The Making of Cloverfield," twenty-eight minutes and self-explanatory. The next is "Cloverfield Visual Effects," twenty-two minutes and also self-explanatory. The third is "I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge," six minutes on the creature design. And the final featurette is "Clover Fun," about four minutes of bloopers, although it's hard to tell since much of the film appears to have been improvised.
In addition, there are four deleted scenes titled "Congrats Rob," "When You're in Japan," "I Call That a Date," and "It's Going to Hurt," with optional director commentary and totalling a little over three minutes. In addition, there are two alternate endings, totalling a bit more than four minutes, also with optional commentary. Finally, Paramount's press site says they have included a number of Easter eggs hidden away on the disc, for which I cannot vouch.
Things wind down with sixteen scene selections but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Thoughts:
I'd give the Blu-ray edition of "Cloverfield" an A for effort, a B for visuals, a C for content, and a C for photography, the latter, of course, being intentionally herky-jerky on the filmmakers' part. If you liked the movie in standard definition picture and sound, you'll love it in high-def, despite the contradictions the improvements bring to the movie's "documentary" concept.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]23713[/release]