10 Cloverfield Lane:
After an argument with her boyfriend, a Louisianan woman named Michelle drives into the countryside looking to escape. After she is involved in an intense car accident, she awakes to find herself the unwilling inhabitant of an underground bunker, created and ruled with an iron fist by the mysterious Howard. She is joined by fellow inhabitant Emmett, and soon the survivalist Howard explains that there has been some unexplained attack which has resulted in apocalyptic conditions outside, so no one can leave the bunker. But as tensions rise among the three and Michele desires a way out, they find that whatever lies for them outside may be better than staying.
The basis for this film was an micro-budget script titled The Cellar. I think this is incredibly apparent in that the connections to the Cloverfield franchise are incredibly loose and don't even come into play until well into the third act. I would have almost preferred it just be its own film as opposed to tying it to a nearly decade-old found footage film, but then again, in this depressing state of Hollywood it probably wouldn't have gotten a quality studio treatment without being tied to some pre-existing property.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes for an impressive leading lady, and she is definitely undervalued and it is a shame she seems to exclusively get shoved into genre pieces. John Gallagher, Jr. is also strong as her male companion Emmett, whose presence in the bunker seems to put Howard in a bit of a mood for some reason. He is an effective romantic interest and very likable character for the little we get to know of him. Bradley Cooper has a nice voice cameo near the beginning, and Suzanne Cryer also cameos.
The final member of the cast and the shining star of this film is John Goodman. Good God, the transformation of one of the most lovable actors in Hollywood into a threatening and domineering screen presence is remarkable. Every moment he's on screen and every piece of dialogue is dripped with tension, as literally almost anything could set his hair-trigger temper off. Not that he doesn't get moments that humanize him a bit, but his character ultimately comes off more pitiful and sad than sympathetic, in direct opposition to Goodman's usual Teddy Bear appeal.
The film really was a solid and tense psychological thriller, and incredibly well-done and paced bottle story (i.e. story set in a single location with a small cast) as well as mystery. The last 15 minutes almost ruin the entire movie, as that is when they shove in the unnecessary "tie" to Cloverfield, and honestly I thought of two places exactly where they could have cut to black and I would've been totally satisfied and even impressed (i.e. right after a character leaves a location and discovers something about the outside world, or right after this same character sees an object in the distance and says "You've got to be kidding me," you'll know what I'm talking about as soon as you finish the film).
Overall, this is a terrifically tense movie that succeeded in getting me invested into its not entirely unique but still intriguing premise, though I would recommend just turning it off before the climax totally drops the ball (you'll know exactly what I'm talking about). Maybe a fan edit will be created one day (hopefully). 6.5/10 stars.
(Image: Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment