'10 Cloverfield Lane' Review
Billed as the sequel to 2008's 'Cloverfield', '10 Cloverfield Lane' actually started out titled 'The Cellar' before being renamed.
The film follows the story of a woman named Michelle, who was involved in a car accident and finds herself chained to a wall in an underground bunker by a seemingly crazy doomsday prepper in Howard. Also in the bunker is a man named Emmett.
After initial distrust of Howard, the three characters seem to be bonding, as they all believe the air above ground to be contaminated, according to Howard's conspiracy theories. Paranoia consumes Michelle and Emmett, as they plan their escape. Emmett is killed by Howard and Michelle is working to make a crude hazmat suit, as she fears breathing the air once she escapes. Michelle does a number on Howard, burning him with acid and eventually blowing up the bunker as she escapes.
Once out of the bunker, Michelle encounters aliens and is able to get away. She picks up a radio broadcast talking about survivors and seemingly heads to Houston.
Throughout most of the film, I felt like the title could have been anything other than 'Cloverfield' as it bore no resemblance to its predecessor. The payoff came at the end when Michelle encountered the aliens and tied the films together.
I enjoyed the film overall, but felt like it dragged a bit in the middle. I kept waiting for something major to happen and found myself frustrated that there would be no tie-in to the first film, but the ending really did a good job of bringing both films together. Going back to the first film, you might think that the events were an isolated incident as the setting was New York City. '10 Cloverfield Lane' showed that the events were actually a global threat, with various types of aliens invading Earth.
John Goodman's performance in the film was great. He brings such intensity to his character of Howard. Honestly, if you took out the whole alien premise, this film would have stood on its own as a pure psychological thriller. The claustrophobic setting and paranoid moments were almost characters in themselves. Suspension of disbelief is well-warranted in this film, as Michelle seems almost super-human in the feats she pulls off to survive.
I enjoyed the film more than I initially thought that I would. I think that this franchise could be an anthology hybrid, where further sequels could tell stories of different characters all struggling to survive the alien invasion.
My rating: 7 out of 10
