10 Cloverfield Lane

Fair warning from the start: I cannot write this without major spoilers.  Do not read this if you plan to see this movie, which I highly recommend.

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of Cloverfield.  I like monster movies to begin with, but even the excitement of watching Godzilla or King Kong or whatever monster destroying New York can get played-out.  Cloverfield was different.  It was the first movie I can remember that used an intricate viral campaign to give plenty of very interesting background.  It is probably the best use of "found-footage" in a movie, making it more intimate and "human" than most monster movies.  I especially liked that there was no score, since that would take away from the spectacle, but yet they still got Michael Giacchino to write a fantastic monster movie suite that played during the credits.

There have been rumors of a sequel since even before the first one opened.  There was lots of speculation about what kind of sequel it would be.  Perhaps it would be from the perspective of the military.  Perhaps it would be another found footage film from the guy seen filming on the Brooklyn Bridge (J.J. Abrams rightly pointed out that would ruin the uniqueness of the first).  So when the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane came out of nowhere a couple of months ago, I was immediately intrigued, but I also wanted to be completely surprised, so I avoided anything that might tell me more.

I went last night, opening night, because I wanted to avoid any spoilers, just as you should, too.

My quick, synopsis review: 10 Cloverfield Lane is an exciting thriller that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Starting this movie completely from the perspective of Michelle was a great move, adding to the suspense and leaving the viewer wondering, just like Michelle, what exactly is going on.  In that way, it is fairly similar to Cloverfield since the audience, like the main character, is trying to piece together the clues as to what is happening.

John Goodman is great and scary and really adds something to the experience.  Is he just a paranoid doomsday prepper/conspiracy theorist?  Is he a crazy Criminal Minds-like kidnapper?  Is he right, and honestly trying to do the right thing by saving Michelle and Emmett?  One of the things I love about the movie is that each one of these scenarios can be right, and in some ways we find out they are.

I also thought the clear three-act storyline worked very well.  First act: set up the mystery.  Second act: they seem to come to peace with the situation and are living as a happy family.  Third act: sow seeds of doubt with the ventilation scene.  It's the third act where the movie really excels, with a great slow-burn that leads to a sudden and unexpected explosion and an intense final 15 minutes.

HERE BE SPOILERS:  So, the ending.  First, the killing of Emmett was completely unexpected for me and left me, like Michelle, kind of reeling.  The escape from the bunker was done well.  It was not too easy for her and you really felt like she could fail.  And what I loved about this movie, when she escapes everyone is wondering what really happened out there.  Now, there is a bit of frustration on my part with some of her rather stupid actions after the reveal of the alien spaceship.  But I did love her response to finding out Howard wasn't completely crazy after all.

I am sure some people will complain about the convenience of her escape from the aliens.  By that time, I figured she had to get away and was not going to be too nit-picky about how.  Then the final great reveal: she's going to Houston!  Finally the countries fourth largest city is seen as an obvious major target for an alien invasion.  It doesn't always have to be New York!

So what does all this have to do with Cloverfield?  On the surface, nothing.  I believe Abrams called it a "blood relative."  There are some connections, corporation names, Howard works in satellites and a crashing satellite woke the Cloverfield monster, etc.  It's pretty obvious there will be more to this story to see whether it is a direct sequel, or just part of an anthology of monster movies from a similar universe.  Either way, I'm very interested to see where this goes.

Again, at the end of the day, this is an exciting thriller that grabs hold of the audience and forces them to wonder what is going on and what will happen next.  This is the definition of a good thriller.  Grade: 8/10