Review of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) by Ydnar4 — 11 Mar 2016

"Produced by JJ Abrams" is generally all it takes to get my ass in a theater seat these days and I rushed in to see 10 Cloverfield Lane as quick as I could and I was not disappointed. We all know that this film really came out of nowhere a couple months ago when the film was revealed only 2 months before it came out.

Some people may find this film to be slow but I felt that it went by so fast. This film is 103 minutes and when it was over it felt like 50 minutes had past. Key men behind the first film returned as producers in Abrams, Drew Goddard and the director of the first film Matt Reeves. Rookie filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg deserves a pat on the back after a great debut and I'm sure we will be hearing that name again on some more big productions. The cast was so great! John Goodman is outstanding. I honestly feel like there is no one who could have pulled off the role of Howard the way he did. Its nice to see him in a mainstream film because he is such a talented guy and we don't seem to see as much of him anymore. Goodman's character is so mysterious and you really never know whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. I think that Mary Elizabeth Winstead did not reach Goodman's level but she was very good as well and is probably the best I have seen from her so far in her career. Then you have John Gallagher Jr. who was strong and likeable as well.

Most of this movie has a very independent feel through the first 2 acts and I was very fine with that and the first two acts are the high points of the film. With JJ involved it definitely feels similar to the "Hatch" in Lost which I love. There are so many tense moments where you are so engaged and I found myself attached to Winstead's character Michelle. You are really rooting for her the whole way through.

The third act took me out of the story just slightly when the monsters finally show up because it is just such a shift into a whole different type of danger. I still thought the monsters looked good and they were pretty scary while they were around. I recommend that this film be viewed in the theater just so you can get the experience of seeing the monsters on the big screen.

I was fine with the ending too, which was obviously a huge cliff hanger and as long as we get another movie I'm 100% fine with it. I would not rule out the fact that we are seeing another Cloverfield film that starts up right where the last one left off. I was not be shocked by an announcement of another movie before the end of 2016. I'll have my fingers crossed.