There's A Reason The Cloverfield Monster Is So Clumsy
Whenever Godzilla attacks a vast metropolis in one of his movies, there's usually something majestic and even graceful about the way he demolishes the various bridges, vehicles, and buildings in his path. In the case of King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World's city-leveling antics are typically painted in either a tragic light — as is the case in his solo outings — or as something awe-inspiring, like in his crossovers with Godzilla. And then, on the opposing end of the giant monster movie spectrum, there's "Clover," the quasi-official nickname of the creature that lays ruin to New York City in director Matt Reeves' 2008 hit "Cloverfield."
Much like the Muppets, when Clover takes Manhattan, it's with all the elegance and finesse of a panicked cat whose human owners have only just caught them snooping in their kitchen pantry. As the U.S. military reigns fire down upon them, the creature wildly flails its limbs, smashing the nearest skyscrapers and nearly tripping over backwards in an attempt to run away. Honestly, the further along the film goes, the harder it becomes to tell who's creating more property damage: Clover or the soldiers whipping it up into a riotous frenzy.
It turns out, there's a reason for that, and it's all to do with the creature's age.
I'm baby
In an interview with "Cloverfield" creature designer Neville Page around the time of the movie's release, io9 asked about Clover's clumsiness. The outlet noted that producer J.J. Abrams had even referred to the monster as a "baby" in the film's press notes. "I would have preferred that it be even clumsier. But then it can get comical," Page admitted. He added:
"Yes, it was the intention that it is a baby and it is not only developing its strength but also its land legs. The proportions are intended to feel a little like a newborn deer or horse. Long, thin, and slightly awkward."
Page would go on to repurpose certain aspects of Clover's physiology with his design for the nameless alien visitor from Abrams' 2011 Amblin love letter "Super 8" (such as the general facial structure). Noticeably, however, the extra-terrestrial in "Super 8" is much less ungainly in their proportions, suggesting they are meant to be a fully-mature member of their species, more or less.
Speaking to SYFY in honor of "Cloverfield" turning 15 in January 2023, Matt Reeves further confirmed that Clover being an infant was part of the creature's "definitive" backstory and that its clumsiness was meant to be a reflection of this:
"For sure we did. Because you have to figure [out] how to direct the monster, so to speak. So you have to understand what's going on with them emotionally. And for me, the big secret was that the monster was a baby and was experiencing separation anxiety. The reason the monster was freaking out is because they were having fits based on looking for their mother."
Sympathy for the monster
If this revelation makes you sympathize with Clover even more than you did before, then it seems as though that, too, was by design. Matt Reeves explained how this backstory informed his approach to the film's city-wrecking spectacle:
"And so, [the monster] was just as afraid as the main characters, because it seems like there would be nothing more terrifying than the human element fighting this giant monster element and, actually, both of them are just terrified. That's a mess. That's not good. So that part of it was absolutely something that we talked about in the development of the creature and in terms of how I shot it."
This element aside, "Cloverfield" never explicitly presents Clover as being a metaphor for an environmental catastrophe brought about and then exacerbated by humanity's actions — at least, not to the degree that the "Godzilla" franchise does with the King of the Monsters. Still, the subtext is there if you go fishing for it. That goes double for the film's viral marketing from the lead-up to its theatrical release in 2008, which referenced the destruction of the Chuai Station sea-drilling platform as a direct cause of Clover's rampage on the Big Apple.
That's what you get for bullying a baby, you big ol' meanies.