Review of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) by Phillipé S — 30 Jun 2016

Surprising on every level. Dan Trachtenberg and JJ Abrams create a smart format with "10 Cloverfield Lane", telling a completely new story within the larger context of the Cloverfield universe.

Found footage and bombastic destruction are expertly substituted for razor-tight tension and a relentless sense of dread and unease.

A violent car crash leaves Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) the uncertain captive of plot or circumstance under the unstable eye of Howard (John Goodman, The Big Lebowski), a conspiracy theorist with a subterranean bunker and an answer for everything who takes her in after finding her wrecked on the roadside. Howard hints at global catastrophe as the reason for their joint confinement. Emmett (John Gallagher Jr., Short Term 12), a neighbor of Howard's, rounds out the holed-up trio and provides comic relief that more often escalates rather than decompresses the tension.

Through tight directorial and scripting choices the audience shares the full depth of Michelle and Emmett's uncertainty as questions arise whose answers only tend to beget further, more unsettling questions. Incredible performances from all three actors bridge the sparingly used moments of dialogue and help keep "Cloverfield" from succumbing to the inherent pitfalls of setting a thriller in a singular and confined locale.

Brief moments of heart help accent the brooding terror and make for a rounded character-driven thriller whose Sisyphean escalation in the latter third of the film keeps the audience on edge until the literal last moment.

(I couldn't possibly recommend this movie more. I was floored to discover that this was Trachtenberg's first feature. Composer Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead) also deserves bountiful acknowledgement for crafting a score that is equal parts thrills and menace. Probably the best score I've heard in a few years.).