Cloverfield

I had a few preconceptions going into this: I knew it was going to be handheld but had though that meant zero budget, bad acting and mainly people waiting around in the dark for some unseen horror to strike for 80% of the movie. Boy was I wrong.

First things first, Cloverfield is brilliant. It might not have much to say about the human condition, but as an action/horror it’s at the top of its game. Exhilarating, terrifying, funny, and with a great ending to boot, it just shows what can happen when Hollywood allows creative people to be, you know, creative.

Now the monster rampage (and especially the mini-monsters) might be swiped straight from Godzilla (gee, I wonder why the lead was going to Japan…) but here it’s used to devastating effect, no doubt aided by our new conditioned reaction to seeing tall buildings fall in clouds of white dust. Each moment has clearly been carefully planned by the director and writer, yet when watching seems like a natural progression into a situation spiralling increasingly out of control, as the characters stumble from one set piece into another.

I won’t list all the highlights, but the subway attack and crossing between the skyscrapers particularly floored me (though that may have something to be with my aversion to heights and the dark). Quite how they’ll make the sequel without ruining the original I don’t know, so make sure you check it out now, before the follow ups and spin offs and pale imitations start turning up in their droves.

Ashes to Ashes to Ashes

So, after almost a year of waiting, the follow up to the excellent Life on Mars has arrived. Now I loved Life on Mars, and whilst I was sad to see it end, they were right to stop while they were ahead. The question was, could a reboot of the series concept work, transposing Gene Hunt and his team to 80s London? Could it work: yes. Did it work: spectacularly no.

Now I’ve been hearing that things pick up in episode two and it’s only because of that, and the genius of Life on Mars, that I’m going to keep watching. The first episode really was that bad. There are many reasons why LoM was brilliant, but I’d say part of it was making a modern cop show but with characters that behaved like they would have back in the Sweeny. In Ashes to Ashes, they decided to put 80s characters in an 80s show: everything big, loud and over the top. Forget engaging storylines, forget logic, forget art direction that enhances the drama rather than engulfs it: welcome back to the overblown nonsense of the A-team, Airwolf and Knight Rider. Now those shows had a few things going for them: they were American, which somehow gave them licence to exaggerate real life, and the characters were funny and interesting and, important this bit, likeable. Without that, they’d have just been a string of ridiculous explosions and set pieces (and yes, I know many will say that’s all they were, but think about how fondly these shows are still remembered).

Ashes to Ashes made the fatal mistake of putting a neurotic, unbelievable and, worst of all, irritating character in the centre of the story. D.I. Alex Drake is that unforgivable creation: a character devised by committee in a reality vacuum. Yes she may sound interesting on paper, but stick her in a cop show and she’s like Godzilla in New York (destroys everything and make for a dire movie). To be fair to the writers it might not be entirely their fault. At least some of the blame has to be carried by the awful direction and the (I’m running out of superlatives here) utterly appalling performance of Keeley Hawes.

I’m truly hoping thing pick up next week and will save any more comment until then. Let’s just hope they don’t destroy the legacy of such an, original fantastic first show.