Cloverfield

Cloverfield is anAmerican filmdirected byMatt Reevesand released in2008. Written byDrew Goddard, the film tells the story ofNew York, ravaged by an unknown monster, in which Rob Hawkins and his friends are trying to survive. The film’s main actors areMichael Stahl-David,Mike Vogel,Jessica Lucas,Lizzy Caplan(nominated for theSaturn Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role),TJ MillerandOdette Yustman.

When released, the film is a great commercial success and gets very good reviews from the trade press and viewers. It creates a franchise that gives rise to two suites: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). A e film, Overlord is provided.

Synopsis

New York , 2007 . Forty young people are organizing a party for the departure of one of their own for Japan . Robert “Rob” Hawkins, Jason Hawkins, Lily Ford, Hudson Platt and Marlena Diamond are the main characters. During the evening, while the party is in full swing, the building in which they are located is strongly shaken by a sudden jolt. Intrigued, the guests go down to the street to inquire about what is happening. A thump is then heard … and the head of the Statue of Liberty comes crashing down in the middle of the street. In a few minutes, Manhattan becomes the scene of an attack as dreadful as destructive. A gigantic creature worthy of akaiju invades the city, which sinks into chaos.

Rob, who wants to find Beth, his ex-girlfriend, goes looking for him with his friends across New York, devastated by the huge animal. Meanwhile, the US military, which has deployed in droves, can not kill the monster despite the use of increasingly powerful weapons (heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, tanks, artillery, helicopters). attack, fighter planes, bomber B-2 ).

A radical solution is therefore taken by the army: at dawn, New York will be completely bombed to permanently eradicate the monster, despite the presence of many survivors remaining in the city including Rob and his friends. For them, the race against time is engaged.

After many adventures, Rob and Beth, the only survivors of the group take refuge under an arch of Central Park to record a last message of farewell, but the bombs fall on Central Park before they finish their message. The sequence ends with the cries of Rob and Beth and the creature, the camera being covered by debris.

However, she unveils a sequence of Rob and Beth in Coney Island on April 27 where you can see something falling into the ocean in the distance. The film ends with a zoom on Rob and Beth, Beth saying “I had a good day”.

However, at the end of the credits of the film we can hear a message difficult to understand saying “HELP US” (Help Us) but played backwards we hear distinctly “IT’S STILL ALIVE” (It’s still alive) probably meaning that the Creature is still alive even though JJ Abrams himself claims that this inverted message is wrong because according to him “The creature is indeed dead”. A version corroborated by his spiritual sequel, 10 Cloverfield Lane , as at the end of the film we can hear by the radio that “Human Resistance has succeeded, the south coast of North America having been liberated”.

Technical sheet

  • Title: Cloverfield
  • Director: Matt Reeves
  • Scenario: Drew Goddard
  • Sets: Robert Greenfield
  • Costumes: Ellen Mirojnick
  • Photography: Michael Bonvillain
  • Editing: Kevin Stitt
  • Production: JJ Abrams and Bryan Burk
  • Production Companies: Bad Robot Productions and Paramount Pictures
  • Distribution Company: Paramount Pictures
  • Budget: $ 25 million
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Original language: English
  • Format: Color – 35 mm – 1.85: 1 – SDDS / DTS / Dolby Digital
  • Genres: disaster movie , science fiction , fake documentary , drama
  • Duration: 85 minutes
  • Release dates:
    • United States :(world premiere in Hollywood )
    • United States / Canada :
    • France / Belgium :
    • Switzerland :

Distribution

  • Michael Stahl-David (VF: Nessym Guetat , VQ: Antoine Durand ) : Robert “Rob” Hawkins
  • TJ Miller (VF: Alexis Victor , VQ: Martin Watier ) : Hudson “Hud” Platt
  • Jessica Lucas (VF: Alice Taurand ; VQ: Aline Pinsonneault ) : Lily Ford
  • Odette Yustman (VQ: Bianca Gervais ) : Elizabeth “Beth” McIntyre
  • Lizzy Caplan (VQ: Violette Chauveau ) : Marlena Diamond
  • Mike Vogel (VF: Tristan Petitgirard , VQ: Hugolin Chevrette ) : Jason Hawkins
  • Ben Feldman (VQ: Sebastian Reding ) : Travis Marello
  • Billy Brown : Sergeant Pryce
  • Chris Mulkey (VQ: Benoit Rousseau ) : Lieutenant-Colonel Graff
  • Brian Klugman (VQ: Patrice Dubois ) : Charlie
  • Theo Rossi (VQ: Philippe Martin ) : Antonio
  • Matt Reeves : the messenger voice at the end
Sources and legend: French version (VF) on RS Dubbing and AlloDoublage. Quebec version (VQ) on Doublage Quebec

Around the film

Origins of the project

According to David Fury , these are research on the origin of bloop to have inspired JJ Abrams 1 . The bloop is an ultra-low frequency sound, detected in the Pacific Ocean by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) several times in the summer of 1997 , and whose origin remains unknown today. A first television project was abandoned in December 2005 for a film.

In February 2007 , Paramount Pictures secretly launched the Cloverfield project , produced by JJ Abrams, directed by Matt Reeves , and scripted by Drew Goddard based on an initial idea by JJ Abrams. The casting is conducted without any script being sent to the candidates, and unknown actors are chosen 2 . Their contract forbids them to reveal any information about the film. With a production budget estimated at $ 25 million 3 , filming begins mid- June 2007 in New York .

The monster

Before the release of the film, many rumors circulated about the identity of the monster : Godzilla , but also Cthulhu 4 . A rumor has circulated that Cloverfield would be the adaptation of the new Lovecraft Call of Cthulhu ( 1926 ) , which Bad Robot Productions , the production company of JJ Abrams , would have bought the rights in 2003 4 .

The film reveals the appearance of the monster but neither its name (the film crew nicknamed it “Clover” 5 ) nor, especially, its origin. We will be content with this commentary by JJ Abrams in the press kit of the film: “It is a baby just out of the water where he spent thousands of years. He is a newborn. He is disoriented and irritable … ” 6 This quote, related to JJ Abrams’ inspiration and bloop research , gives credence to the idea of a sea monster . This hypothesis is also mentioned in the film by the character of Hud.

The most plausible hypothesis is that the creature is a marine monster awakened by a Japanese company seeking to extract an ingredient from the ocean floor for its energy drink, ingredient extracted through an oil platform . The satellite launched by the company deviated from its orbit and crashed into the water: this is the form we see crashing during the last moments of the film. The satellite and the booming business of the oil rig caused the revival of the monster, sleeping deep in the ocean, which destroyed the platform 7. This hypothesis is confirmed by the presence of four videos hidden in the DVDs of the film. This is fake TV news reports (which we see elsewhere in the film, in the background, when one of the characters is looking for a battery for his cell) in which we see the destruction of the platform 8 .

However, we can advance an origin of the monster other than marine. Indeed, in the last scene of the film, we find Robert Hawkins and Beth McIntyre in a carnival, the camera is turned towards the sea. Just before the camcorder turns to the couple to say – ironically – the last line from the movie ( “It was an extra day!” ), you can see in the distance, on the right of the screen, next to a ferry , a shape falling from the sky and diving into the ocean. We can think that this is the first appearance of the monster (since this scene takes place chronologically before the disaster) and that it could come from space 9 . This detail has been little noticed in the cinema, but he1 . Nevertheless, this does not detract from the mystery of the monster’s provenance or even its presence.

Promotion of the film

Paramount Pictures started a viral marketing campaign to promote the movie

The first trailer only revealed the name of JJ Abrams , then known as creator of the Lost series , and the release date, but not the title of the movie 10 . Several fake titles then circulated 11 :

  •  France :
    • 06-02-08 (release date)
  •  United States :
    • 1-18-08 (release date)
    • Cheese (fake title)
    • Clover (fake title)
    • Slusho (fake title)

Project 08/08/08 is the name given to the film for its DVD release (the release date being the12 . This release was accompanied by a series of six videos putting into action disaster situations filmed camera by hand, in the same way as Cloverfield . These videos were launched on the Internet a month before the release of the DVD and helped to maintain the mystery around the movie 13 .

A news story has been written in Japan and is available for sale on Amazon.com ‘s Japanese site .

Style, aesthetics and references

Like Cannibal Holocaust , Project Blair Witch 11 , REC , Paranormal Activity , Cloverfield is portrayed as having been shot by the characters in the film, whose recording would have been found. very numerous camera. The film thus takes the form of a fake documentary 3 . This type of shooting can also reduce the costs of editing or image processing. The poor film quality is better.

The scenes of panic in the streets of Manhattan , as the collapse of buildings and the clouds of dust caused by them echo some amateur videos shot during the attacks of September 11, 2001 14 , 15 .

The image of the head of the Statue of Liberty crashing right in New York is directly inspired by the poster of the film New York in 1997 by John Carpenter 3 .

Towards the end of the movie, right after the crash of the helicopter, a subliminal image can be seen from King Kong on the skyscraper , when the camera fails 16 . At Comic Con in 2007, producer JJ Abrams revealed that he was inspired by King Kong and Godzilla 17 .

At the beginning of the film, looking in the lower right corner, we can see for one second the Dharma Project logo of the Lost series : The Missing 18 .

Distinctions

  • The 2008 Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film , awarded by the Academy of Fiction Science, Fantasy and Horror Films .
  • th place in the “2008 Top Ten” journalists of Cahiers du Cinema 19

Suites

Main articles: Cloverfield (movie series) , 10 Cloverfield Lane , The Cloverfield Paradox and Overlord (movie, 2018) .

The project of a suite is developed in the greatest secrecy, as for Cloverfield , and shot late 2014. In January 2016, a mysterious trailer is revealed. Producer JJ Abrams explains that 10 Cloverfield Lane “has a blood relationship with Cloverfield ” 20 and adds:

“The idea of following up on Cloverfield came a while ago. We wanted the film to have a relationship (…) We wanted to keep the title of the new secret project as long as possible 21 . “

– JJ Abrams , January 2016

The film was released on March 16, 2016.

In October 2016, it is revealed that The Paradox Cloverfield (initially God Particle ), is the th component of which is presented as an anthology Cloververse 22 , 23 . The film would finally explain the coming of the creature and focus on a team located in a space station orbiting the earth, fighting for their survival. The first trailer of the film was unveiled during the Super Bowl for a surprise release on February 5, 2018, just after the first game of the show on the Netflix streaming platform .

th episode was announced in 2018, tentatively named Overlord , the film will take place in 1944 during the Second World War . American paratroopers discover that the Nazis use supernatural weapons against the Allies. Filming has already been completed for a planned release on October 26, 2018 in the United States. However, even though the film is well before Cloverfield and The Cloverfield Paradox, it was not clear whether the film was a prequel or whether it was a film independent of the two previously mentioned films. 10 Cloverfield Lane even though, like him, the film would remain in the same universe.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ a and b DVD test ”  [ archive ] , on planet-hd.com .
  2. ↑ ” Paramount rolls in the ‘Cloverfield’ ”  [ archive ] , on archive.org ,
  3. ↑ a , b and c Cloverfield” thrills America ”  [ archive ] , Le Figaro ,
  4. ↑ a and b The secrets of Cloverfield ”  [ archive ] , on ecranlarge.com ,
  5. ↑ ” Secrets of filming ”  [ archive ] , Screenrush
  6. ↑ ” Birth of a monster: the visual effects ”  [ archive ] , on cinemotions.com .
  7. ↑ ” Cloverfield: explanations, genesis of the monster and spoilers ”  [ archive ] , on onlike.net
  8. ↑ ” Reportage on a mysterious attack ”  [ archive ] , Dailymotion
  9. ↑ ” Cloverfield Video ”  [ archive ] , on teva.fr .
  10. ↑ ” Cloverfield: a viral marketing ultra efficient ”  [ archive ] , on vsd.fr ,
  11. ↑ a and b movie sheet ”  [ archive ] , on toutlecine.com
  12. ↑ ” Cloverfield: The Project 08-08-08 is launched!  ”  [ Archive ] , on excessif.com ,
  13. ↑ Project 08/08/08  [ archive ] – Dailymotion
  14. ↑ ” Cloverfield : A fantastic movie where a monster terrorizing New York. Guaranteed chills.  »  [ Archive ] , The Express,
  15. ↑ You can see also a reference to the attacks of 11 September 2001 just after the first shock a character says: ” Think it’s an other terrorist attack?  ” ( ” You think this is another terrorist attack? ” )
  16. ↑ ” Cloverfield (2008): All the errors ”  [ archive ] , on errorsdefilms.com
  17. ↑ (in) JJ Abrams talks about Cloverfield ”  [ archive ] , on archive.org
  18. ↑ ” Logos DHARMA -Anecdotes ”  [ archive ] , on lostpedia.wikia.com
  19. ↑ Cahiers du cinema , o 641, January 2009, p. 6
  20. ↑ (en) Did Bad Robot Secretly Film in Cloverfield Sequel?  ”  [ Archive ] , on ComingSoon , (accessedJanuary 15, 2016 ) .
  21. ↑ ” Enigmatic trailer of 10 Cloverfield Lane , the new production of JJ Abrams ”  [ archive ] , on Allociné ,(accessed January 15, 2016 ) .
  22. ↑ (in) Peter Sciretta , ” ‘God Particle’ is ‘Cloverfield 3’ ”  [ archive ] on / movie (accessed 27 October 2016 )
  23. ↑ ” Cloverfield 3God Particle would be the sequel ”  [ archive ] , on IGN France , (accessedOctober 27, 2016 )

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