Review of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) by Connor K — 22 Nov 2016

Raw tension abounds in 10 Cloverfield Lane, an atmospheric thriller for the ages and one of the strongest cinematic offerings in recent memory.

The film is all too often mistaken as a sequel to the 2008 monster movie Cloverfield. It is more of a loose follow-up, or, as J.J. Abrams himself put it, a "blood-relative". It is important to understand this while watching the film.

That confusion aside, the plot is fairly simple. A young woman named Michelle gets knocked unconscious in a severe car wreck, and she wakes up in a mysterious underground bunker inhabited by Howard Stambler (John Goodman) and another man around Michelle's age named Emmet. (John Gallagher, Jr.) They tell her that an apocalyptic attack has rendered the outside world unsafe and the air unbreathable. Soon enough, Michelle and Emmet realize that Howard may not be who claims he is, and they begin plotting their escape to discover the truth about the situation.

Largely due to Goodman, who's character is no good man, suspense and claustrophobia are built upon seamlessly with each passing minute. It never occurred to me that a film with only three principal cast members could be so effective, but this proves it.

Eventually, Michelle and Emmet realize that Howard, though keeping them safe from the world, happens to be a devious kidnapper who killed one of Emmet's acquaintances years back. By means of summary murder, Emmet is disposed of by Howard, but Michelle incapacitates him and escapes from the bunker once and for all, soon discovering that the air is breathable after all.

Then comes the final twenty minutes, in which we find out that extraterrestrial life is what has invaded the Earth. Many will tell you that this sequence does not fit in with the rest of the movie and that it is anticlimatic, but anybody with half a brain can understand that it does indeed if they just look closely. I just laugh when 10 Lane gets disparaged for it's ending, and I have some darn good reasons for it.

1. As I clarified earlier, this isn't a sequel to Cloverfield, and more of a successor of the same spirit.. Cloverfield, in case you don't know, revolves entirely around an alien attack on Earth! So if there was any way to tie 10 Lane to its movie of origin, this was the way to do it! Good heavens!

2. Throughout the entirety of the movie, multiple hints are dropped that aliens are what have posed a threat to the world. In a scene where the bunker starts shaking and noises are heard, Howard says, "It could be military... but not ours..." and later, when Michelle is escaping through the vents, he bellows, "You can't run from them! You don't know what's out there!".

3. The tagline for the movie is "Monsters come in many forms." This is obviously referring to Goodman's character and... the aliens!

Connect the dots, people! Sheesh.

At the end of the day, 10 Cloverfield Lane is an unrivaled masterpice that benefits fully from its cast, story arc and climax, and masterful direction. A definite job well done for the debuting Dan Trachtenberg.