Rampant Speculation: Is "R U There?" Cloverfield 2? Probably Not.
It's always odd to be on the cusp of an Internet Shitstorm, yet viral marketing has a knack to start it up. When it comes to film, J.J. Abarams is a master at directing as well as online trolling , as he proved with Cloverfield. In fact, there's nothing that new when it comes to films and viral ads on the Internet.
"R U There?" is a wonderful example of this. From a 41-second run time to overemphasis, however brief, on the Cloverfield street sign, this appears to be the groundwork for a massive viral campaign, right? Well, no.
The problem with viral advertising is imitation. Everyone follows suit from Groverfield to the other 906 parodies on YouTube right now. After all, these days the line between half-assed and bare bones fleshing out of production.
Topless Robot is convinced, FilmDrunk is wonderfully skeptical and it is Devin Faraci at CHUD who has the best reason to why this is even newsworthy:
I guess the answer is that it's interesting to see that Cloverfield remains enough in the popular consciousness two years out to inspire someone to fake a video like this. The film was immensely front loaded and interest dried up theatrically in a couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean the film didn't leave a mark. When you look back at movies time gives the ability to not only judge its quality with fresh eyes but also the context with which to judge its impact.
Honestly, the most interesting would be if "Luke Mullen," who submitted the tip to CHUD was responsible for sending it around to other blogs as well. Then I'd be a little more receptive to the idea of this as viral advert. But think about what this video is promoting: the grass dinosaurs on the 3rd Street Promenade are mildly iconic and blending that with footage of recent construction happening near Broadway is a nice touch. Ditto for the subtle-as-a-heart-attack of mixing in audio and video of Clover, along with what sounds like the trailer from Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero.
It's incredibly doubtful that this is at all legit, even if it is for a film. Yet everything seems a bit too well orchestrated that this is ripe for scene-by-scene speculation and autopsy. So kudos to Abcharu21, who uploaded this yesterday to YouTube. So instead of completely ignoring this, we should celebrate this fan trailer for what it is: good enough to make people consider a sequel for a film that was one of the most interestly advertised american monster movies in the last few years.
-John Lichman
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