Review: Cloverfield

Cloverfield’s been getting a ridiculous amount of hype, and a lot of that is really cunning secretiveness on the part of the film’s producers. It’s finally out, and I got a chance to see it on opening night.

The theater was full to capacity. We ended up seeing it in maybe the third or fourth row from the front, which was probably a bad idea. The shakey-cam aspect of this film cannot be overstated, if you even have the slightest possibility of getting motion sickness from stuff, this cam will have you feeling ill fast. That aside..

The story centers around a group of friends who are busily throwing a party for one of their friends who’s leaving the country for a job in Japan when the crap hits the fan. Something’s tearing New York a new one, and these friends are at ground zero trying to get out of the city. The audience is right along for the ride because the story is told from the perspective of one of the characters holding a digital video camera, hence why the footage is chaotic.

The integration of the effects into the footage is shockingly good. With the city coming apart around everyone it’s amazing to watch because normally that kind of thing is a pain to put together with the filmed stuff, due to the motion. Here it’s spot on, and totally engaging because you have to pay attention to spot details and catch what’s going on.

The film’s incredibly immersive audio helps to sell the experience as well. There’s no music, just whatever audio’s able to be picked up by the video camera.

All in all the experience is very engaging and the presentation is quite original, despite people making comparisons with Blair Witch Project. It can be a stomach twister at times, but there hasn’t been anything out like this in theaters that I can remember. Check it out, but if you can take a back row or wait until it comes out on video.

(Note: I’m being deliberately vague on a lot of plot points which I feel are best experienced than to be told outright)

Review: Sunshine

Set in the near future, the Earth’s sun is dying out. A crew of a ship called the Icarus II is sent out with a mission to reignite it.

Sunshine’s directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame, and it’s amazing how diverse this guy is as a director. This isn’t a slow, plodding sci-fi, it picks up right when things get interesting. The story here has a few predictable bits of course, but it’s handled well.

It’s not an action movie per se, so don’t expect space battle stuff here. 🙂 But it’s not the insomnia-curing Solaris either, not by far.

The dude from 28 Days in in this one as the crew’s physicist, and you’ll notice a lot of the actors are from other films. The acting’s pretty believable in terms of how the characters respond to their respective situations. No oscar worthy performances here, but that’s a good thing — those are usually so overblown it gives me space sickness.

Effects-wise, this movie’s gorgeous. I picked up the Blu-ray, and the picture practically jumps off the screen. The effects are gorgeous, and a fair part of that is the way Boyle styles his movie. If you’ve seen 28 Days Later you’ll know what i mean, he loves filming in high def and enjoys unconventional filming techniques.

Sci fi is a niche genre, and this doesn’t try to be any kind of maintream attempt. The story’s very approachable, there’s not a ton of technobabble, and the director’s approach to this kind of movie makes it very unique. Overall, me likey.

Half-life 2: Episode 1

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Half-life 2 was a strange beast for me. I loved the first game, but the second was just… strange. The entire movement through the game seemed pointless, even thought the overall design was top notch. Just when things get awesome, story wise, it ends with a cliffhanger. Thus I wasn’t looking forward to Episode 1 with much interest.

Then the Orange Box set came and I preordered it for Team Fortress 2. It came with Episode 1 so I gave it a whirl. Wow. In a word, this is what the Half-life 2 should have been like from the start. It has a lot of really awesome gameplay concepts the first game didn’t, and there’s more exposition in the first 10 minutes of play than the HL2 had.

The story of Half-life 2 is pretty cool, it’s just a pity the first game focused more on getting you from point A to point B, rather than explaining what the hell was going on. Episode 1 doesn’t fill in all the blanks of course, but the narrative is a lot less derivative and is much more expertly delivered.

Graphically, Episode 1 includes an incredible implementation of HDR lighting, used to awesome effect throughout the game. Lighting itself plays a huge part here since you’re now paired with Alix, who’s your primary “weapon” to start off. She can only shoot what she sees, so if the lights go off you’d better be pointing your flashlight in the right direction.

The additional commentary icons you can turn on provide some impressive insight into the design process, and I can only imagine the rest of the game’s fans agree since Valve will no doubt provide this feature going forward. It’s not something you turn on during your first outing through the game since it entirely breaks the immersion, but it’s a really great thing to try with your second run through.

The whole package impressed me enough that the Orange Box preorder for me is entirely justified, especially with the inclusion of Team Fortress 2 and Half-life 2 Episode 2. If you’re on the fence about this set because you may have already picked up Half-life 2 already, don’t fret. Episodic content normally turns my stomach, but if Valve can continue to put them out with this level of quality I’ll continue to support them.

I realize of course this isn’t an intensive review, but I’d rather not spoil the experience of this and/or any ending details of Half-life 2 for folks who may not have played it yet.