CLOVERFIELD

During a party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who is moving to Japan for work, a sudden blast rocks New York City. Rob’s friend, Hud (T.J. Miller), is shooting video of the party, and he continues to film as their group of friends risks their lives to save another pal in a city that is quickly being destroyed by an unknown force. The movie, then, is the handheld footage Hud captures, unearthed in the future and filed by the government under the case moniker “Cloverfield.” This is the first in a loosely connected trio of films produced by JJ Abrams: (2016) and

(2018), which was panned. Although the threat in is a Godzilla-like monster that’s ultimately the least scary part of the movie, its many obvious visual and sonic allusions to 9/11 make it a sort of cultural trauma trigger that enhances its potential to unsettle viewers. It’s set in real time in what would turn out to be the early days of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it’s possible that what’s happening is an act of war. People run toward our intrepid heroes and their video camera as dusty gray smoke billows in their wake. It’s a loud movie that is sometimes genuinely emotionally affecting. But it struck me (maybe unintentionally) as hilarious that the reason Rob, Hud, and the gang must put themselves in ever-increasing danger is connected to hurt feelings over a Millennial-generation-tinged, friends-with-benefits hook-up, which is about as aughts as it gets. horror/sci-fi, rated PG-13, 85 minutes, Amazon Prime Video