’10 Cloverfield Lane’ Theatrical Review

10 Cloverfield Lane has been called the spiritual successor to 2008’s Cloverfield, the found-footage monster movie from JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot production company. They have the obvious connection in the name, but the two movies don’t share much actual content. The events that take place in New York in the first movie are never mentioned in the new film. They do share a world where things we aren’t used to, or always ready for, happen.

cloverfield games

The movie starts with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packing and noticeably upset. We don’t know what’s happened and it is never made very clear. This ambiguity is a major part of the movie, not specifically about this incident but about the movie itself. Michelle is running, but the actual threat to her is never quite clear. This creates fantastic tension throughout. I wouldn’t classify this one as a horror film, at least not in it’s entirety. 10 Cloverfield Lane is more of a thriller than pure horror. That’s not to say that there aren’t scary moments, but it’s the tension and sense of dread that are the dominant feelings in the audience.

While Michelle is running she gets into a car accident. She wakes up in a room with an IV, chained to her bed by the knee brace that’s been put on her. She doesn’t know where she is, how she got there, or what’s going on. She’s told by Howard (John Goodman) that he found her after the accident and that he couldn’t just leave her on the side of the road because there’s been some sort of attack. He tells her that the world is no longer a safe place, and that he brought her down to his bunker to keep her safe. The story of the attack is confirmed by the other bunker member, Emmett, (John Gallagher Jr.). The rest of the movie is spent figuring out what exactly is going on. And I don’t want to go much more into the plot as it would be too easy to spoil things for you.

cloverfield puzzle

Like its predecessor did with monster movies, 10 Cloverfield Lane adds a new and refreshing take on the traditional doomsday story. The small number of characters and the confined setting work together to build tension quickly and easily. The story, by Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken, is driven by dialogue and the actors do a phenomenal job. Winstead and Goodman in particular deliver enthralling performances. Their interactions, conversations, and even body language really drive home the dread building for nearly the entire 104-minute runtime.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The shots are beautifully constructed, using the small confines of their underground bunker to the filmmakers’ advantage. Another thing director Dan Tratchenberg gets right is the pacing of the movie. There are just enough slower and lighter moments that the building tension never quite becomes too much. It’s always just right there below the surface, reminding you that something isn’t right but never letting you know exactly what that is.

2008’s Cloverfield was a great movie, but it wasn’t for everyone. I know many people who can’t do found-footage movies, probably because they think they’re cheesy or because they get motion sick from watching a camera bounce around for a couple hours. 10 Cloverfield Lane should’t have any of those detractors. There is one scene that pays homage to it’s predecessor but it’s short and fits with the overall film. This is a very, very good movie. It probably won’t be up for many awards, but it is one I’ll be buying when it comes to Blu-ray.

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