Written by: Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken (story), Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle (screenplay)
Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg
Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr.
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A woman wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who claim a chemical attack has made the world uninhabitable.
Verdict
A thriller that keeps you guessing, though it has a potentially divisive ending. The writing is solid as your suspicions see-saw back and forth. The writing and acting are great at developing tension.
Watch it.
Review
This was originally going to be directed by Chazelle before his amazing movie Whiplash (2014) went into production and he dropped out to direct that. During production this was called Valencia, before it was put in the Cloverfield (2008) world. It doesn't feel like a cash-in because Cloverfield wasn't a big hit. It's just a strange nod.
I really like the first scene. Over music we see Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packing and we surmise there was an argument with a significant other. The title card is also introduced well. To say more would spoil it.
This develops great tension while building a mystery. You're never quite sure about Howard (John Goodman), and you teeter back and forth on whether he's good or bad. The script and acting are great, as you can often guess where Michelle is trying to lead the conversation. You know her motivations and root for her.
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| 10 Cloverfield Lane - Plenty of thrills and surprises. |
She's scared, yet Howard doesn't notice or doesn't care. He seems like a grumpy old man, yet Michelle often feels, and he treats her, like a prisoner. He holds saving her life over her head, while telling her there is no escape, and the outside world is dead. Is he a sociopath?
Even if she is safe in this bunker, she doesn't know Howard and that's frightening. Why is Michelle there? Is it that Howard saved her or that he has a sinister purpose? You sway back and forth. His intentions are validated by his actions, then later undermined.
Goodman does a fantastic job, supported by the writing. There is a catch phrase type game sequence that causes you to wonder how Howard sees Michelle with the guesses he provides. Is he living out some kind of fantasy? The same scene gets incredibly tense when he's giving her clues.
There is a scene where Michelle stitches Howard's head. While I was grimacing, it really doesn't show much.
Movies or shows that show someone crawling through ducting always annoy me. Look at the ducting in your house. It isn't large enough to crawl through. The larger the ducting the larger the motor to push that air. It's an easy crutch the entertainment industry uses, but I'd prefer something realistic.
The ending changes tone slightly. I wouldn't have minded it ending sooner and being ambiguous. I don't have a problem with what Michelle encounters at the end, but ending on the frustration of her last spoken line fits the movie better. She's frustrated about what happened, that things may be worse now, that Howard may beright, or that she made a mistake.
This was an understated thriller, and the final sequence throws that to the wind. The final scene is Michelle at a crossroads in a car having to turn left or right. It's a scene we've seen too many times before.
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