[four-star-rating]Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.[/four-star-rating]
It’s unfair to call this fun thriller a sequel to Cloverfield, the 2008 monster movie where four idiots did almost everything wrong as a creature ravaged Manhattan. Those morons had a handheld camera to record their stupidity; this film is more traditional, and better. Mainly, we couldn’t root for vapid people making bad choices in Cloverfield; here, we feel for Winstead’s Michelle, as a woman trapped in an impossible situation.
It’s difficult to talk about 10 Cloverfield Lane without spoilers – minor ones. For example, anyone who’s seen the first film already knows something horrible is outside. Michelle doesn’t. After a shocking car accident, she finds herself locked in a bunker with Howard, a mentally deranged conspiracy theorist (Goodman) and Emmett, a slightly stupid redneck (Gallagher of Short Term 12). Of course, she cannot believe that staying underground with these oddballs is a good choice; she’s told poisoned air or war or even monsters lurk outside. Howard even shows her that there is no communication from outside.
Howard may be right, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that he’s also nuts. On top of that, things in his story don’t quite add up, and he’s got some creepy supplies and habits.
What’s worse for Michelle; what’s trapped inside the bunker or what waits outside?
Cloverfield was popular – so much so that JJ Abrams produced it – because it was a new, interesting way to film a kaiju flick (like the old Godzilla films updated). It didn’t quite create people we cared about. 10 Cloverfield Lane is more of a psychological thriller, meaning we absolutely must care for Michelle, if only because she seems like so many of those poor girls abducted and imprisoned by madmen. In essence, it’s a totally different film than its predecessor (and that’s a good thing).
Michelle says she’s always been a woman who runs away, avoids conflict. In fact, she was on the road running away from a boyfriend. Here, underground, in the claustrophobic bunker, she can choose to keep the peace, or she can choose to find the truth and stand up and fight her way out.
10 Cloverfield Lane pays a lot of attention to how people would survive underground. Apparently, Howard – as mentally unstable as he is – does his research and then becomes incredibly resourceful. The bunker is a fascinating labyrinth, or even an elaborate machine, full of its own danger.
Goodman is excellent at portraying a man who is clever but possibly deranged or even mentally handicapped when it comes to interacting with other humans. Winstead develops a creative, desperate woman with limited chances for survival.
[rating-key]
The film does seem to drag in places. Also, everything seems too carefully set up, plot points, props, and even Emmett as a character can seem extraneous. That is, until they aren’t. Finally, it shortchanges this film to refer to it as a sequel to Cloverfield.
The main reason is because small, nerve-wracking 10 Cloverfield Lane is so much different – and so much better – than it’s supposed predecessor. In truth, these movies are alien to each other – the first one a lumbering monster flick, this one a taut little thriller that is more likely to haunt our nightmares.
You must be logged in to post a comment.