Letters to the Editor
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"Cloverfield" takes the trauma of 9/11 and turns it into just another random spectacle
Well duh - 9/11 (or 11/9 in the civilised world) is just another random spectacle.
Self absorbed Americans. Way to many of them. Never even considered that Cloverfield was related to 9/11 until yet again some critic had to make it all about their own obessions all over again.
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come on
Is everything 'about' 9-11? Can there never be another movie in which New York buildings crumble? Geezus. It's a freaking monster movie. Are you related to Giuliani?
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Shorter answer
Its just a schlock movie - get over yourselves.
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trying too hard, blackpaw
Good trolling requires subtlety.
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"Can there never be another movie in which New York buildings crumble?"
You mean one, like this one, where there's a shot of a building collapsing and a cloud of smoke and debris begins blowing down the corridors formed by the buildings and people run to stay ahead of it and some people duck into a nearby store and we see the light through the windows turn pitch black and people are then covered with dust and papers are floating through the air?
No, that has nothing to do with 9-11.
Putz.
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Oh please
I'm sure 9/11 did have an effect on the production of this movie. That is, everyone was instantly educated on 9/11 as to what effects a collapsing building would produce in NYC. To have collapsing buildings NOT look like that would be what, willful ignorance for the sake of some weird sentimentality for the horrors of that day? I haven't seen the movie and normally this critic is spot on, but I don't like this review.
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Oh please, my butt
This isn't a coincidence. This is an exact replica of imagery that comes directly from news coverage of 9-11. Now, if it doesn't bother you that that's wedded to an insects-from-the-ocean movie, knock yourself out. It might, however, give pause to those of you with some shred of decency left.
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Would you like a kleenex?
When you were watching Godzilla tear through Tokeyo when you were a kid, did you get into a tizzy wondering whether Hiroshima was turned into an amusement park ride?
It's a monster movie, just enjoy it on that level, monsters tear shit up, that's what they're supposed to do.
Spoiler...By the way, when Watchmen comes out, and a chunk of New York City is blown up in that movie, please refrain from all the hand wringing about 9/11, it's based on a 20 year old graphic novel.
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Shizzle
It's a fanboy wet dream of a movie. Ain't It Cool News can't get enough of it.
I love good sci fi and cannot wait to see it.
Does everything have to be feminist nerdnik PC handwringing?
9/11 happened. More than half the country believes or suspects the US government allowed it or helped it along. It was a special effect, in other words. NY is thus more than fair game for more pseudo-reality attacks.
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This review seems like trolling
It really does, it's just like one of those idiotic postings you see on imdb that somebody wrote just to get a reaction. I have a hard time believing that an educated person, writing for a reputable news website would really write such nonsense. I'm even more surprised that Salon would publish this drivel, frankly, it should be removed, it's an embarassment to the site.
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Enough is Enough !!
Stop Monsters, Aliens, terrorists, etc. attacking NY!! Find some other city . How about Clevelend, Ohio ?
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You've never seen "familiar building exploding and crumpling before our eyes, etc."
in a movie before?
How many movies HAVE you seen?
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Kudos
Let me be the first one to say that Giuliani deserves an Oscar for this one.
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Oh, I don't know...
Saw it tonight. I've been wanting to see this for nearly six months but for the most part, I agree with the review. Despite what some posters have been saying, the 9/11 references are unmistakable. But that alone, while cheap and perhaps a bit offensive, is not what made it a shitty film. The characters are completely unlikeable and the film takes itself way too seriously, apparently trying to ride on contemporary images of horror without adding anything insightful or interesting to the subject or genre. Watch the movie and you'll be disappointed. This is not a "fun" monster movie. It could've been that, but instead it's trying to be 28 Days Later without the substance. May the lives of the writer, director, and producer end in despair.
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@Mister Thompson - good review
Thank you,
in one short paragraph you've conveyed far more information than the article did. I'll wait for this one get released on DVD and rent it.
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film illiteracy at Salon
Wow. Some movies (often in such despised genres as sci-fi and horror) are widely recognized as being "about" topics that they are not really about.
As a matter of fact, Godzilla really was "about" nuclear Japan, just as, say, The Seven Samurai was "about" post-War Japan's interrogation of its militaristic past.
The above should NOT be news to anyone who knows diddly about cinema history.
Spielberg's War of the Worlds has already broken the "it's really 'about' 9/11" barrier.
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as a new yorker who was in manhattan that day
I have to say I saw the building-sized banner on the side of MSG on my way to work yesterday and the only two words that popped into my head, reflexively, were:
"f#ck you"
I don't care if it is good sci fi (which I'm betting it probably isn't, good sci fi makes us think). I don't plan on seeing the movie because it will probably upset me for no good reason.
ps: nobody cares about Cleveland, get over it.
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Exactly
I'm sure 9/11 did have an effect on the production of this movie. That is, everyone was instantly educated on 9/11 as to what effects a collapsing building would produce in NYC. To have collapsing buildings NOT look like that would be what, willful ignorance for the sake of some weird sentimentality for the horrors of that day?
This is right. In a bizarre way, 9/11 itself was life imitating blockbuster. Most people seeing what actually happened, either first hand or in the endlessly looping TV images couldn't help but compare it to Independence Day, Armageddon, or any of the numerous disaster films of recent memory.
For the first time, we have a visual vocabulary of what a destroyed NYC would really look like. If you're trying to make a gritty, realistic take on a giant monster movie, made from a firs t person perspective, there's no way you can ignore that.