An Old World of God and Monsters
CLOVERFIELD. I’m sure you’ve heard of it–Godzilla for the You Tube generation. The whole thing was filmed via handheld camera. It took me a little while to get used to the jerky movement (a similar style was used in FLIGHT 93; Barb couldn’t stomach it), the milieu of storytelling from one visual perspective. But I got there. Man, did I get there! I tried to read my book and watch at the same time. Wasn’t happening. I was quickly drawn into the predicament of some shallow twenty-somethings, whose lives and loves become quite precious to them in the wake of sudden and unprecedented disaster.
It’s really an amazing piece of work, balancing terror, suspense, humor, and pathos. We don’t see the big ol’ monster full on until near the end. We don’t need to; there are plenty of nasty little monsters running around, jumping and clamping on people. A race through a subway tunnel, including a fight with these parasites (which apparently drop off the Big Thing) is truly edge-of-your-seat stuff.
Ironically, though the characters don’t seem to know from God, on the brink of death, they cry for His mercy: “I’msorryI’msorryohI’msorryohgodpleaseforgiveme!” I found this string of almost unintelligible prayer very telling, very realistic, and almost unbearably sad. Movie monsters come and go; passe one day, chasing your meat the next. But God–and human guilt before Him–remain.
Go preach that Gospel, kids. The monsters are still out there.
