After seeing the trailer and noticing the title which has got a "cloverfield" word in it, I was as ready as I can be to watch this movie. The trailer itself was showing something very little. A rare thing nowadays as a lot of movies tend to show too much in the trailer which made the element of surprise missing when watching the actual movie (I have raised this issue earlier as so called "minus" point in my review of Kungfu Panda 3).
Anyway, the movie starts with scenes of Michelle (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Die Hard 4 & 5, Fnal Destination 3 etc) decided to leave her fiancee Ben (I bet you would never guessed who he was) and drove all by herself out of town. During the night driving, while she was receiving a phone call from Ben, her car got into a very loud accident. She woke up in a room with no windows at all and her right leg was chained to the wall. Feeling scared and after shaking her disorientation, she tried all her best to reach for her phone to get some help. Later the door was unlocked and a very big guy with a gun on his belt came to see her. Michelle pleaded him to release her, but the guy who later told Michelle that his name was Howard, said he was only helping her after she got into car accident.
After Michelle tried to escape, Howard (played by the quite veteran John Goodman) explained to Michelle that there was nobody else out there to help as there was a huge attack outside. He thought it would either be a chemical or nuclear attack and the air above was contaminated. They had to stay in a bunker which Howard had built for the exact purpose like this. The bunker itself was filled with canned food, a kitchen, toilet and various entertainment such as TV, videos, even juke box. The bunker also has its own air cleaning system.
Inside the bunker there was also another man, Emmet (played by John Gallagher Jr) whose right hand was hurt. He was the worker who helped Howard built the bunker. He believed in everything that Howard told about the attack. Michelle who still felt that Howard was dangerous, kept on trying to escape from the bunker. Using her wit and resourcefulness Michelle was able to make one more attempt of escaping. However, this latest attempt was also unsuccessful, and Michelle later became more content and was finally able to accept her condition. This made the situation more harmonious amongst the 3 of them. They even enjoyed their lives more and spending time by playing monopoly, see movies together etc.
But was life really as nice as it seemed? Was it true that the air above contaminated and the world was no longer habitable? Where was the attack actually came from? What would happen to the lives of these 3 people? Did they really have to stay inside the bunker for 1 - 2 years like what Howard said?
I had an enjoyable moment watching this movie. This is more like a psychological thriller than an action movie. The movie itself was only having 3 major characters where the 3 of them were completely different. Michelle was very smart & resourceful, Emmet was positive and brought the aura of comfort, while Howard was very mysterious and very dominant.
Almost every scene would provide a new knowledge about each character. I also feel the pace was just nice. It's slow enough for us to absorb new information revealed in the upcoming scenes, but fast enough to keep us intrigued on what would happen later. The background music and sometimes lack thereof would add extra element of tension. I noticed this during the scene involving Howard, Michelle, Emmet with a drum full of liquid corrosive (I hope I remember it correctly).
Well, this is a movie that I think critiques would love. It was smart, and acting was cool. But for people expecting to see lots of action or special effects, better be prepared that this is not that kind of movie. Then what about the "cloverfield" word in the title? Does it have anything to do with the movie "Cloverfield" produced by J.J. Abrams? The answer is yes. I think this movie happens a little bit after that one. I do not think of this as a sequel, but more like a film with the same background or as they say same universe.
Ooh, for those of you worried that you will get the same headache when you first time watched Cloverfield, need not worry as it is shown in the normal 3rd person narrative instead of the found-footage method.
If you really do watch this movie, I hope you would enjoy it as much as I did.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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