After surviving a car accident, a woman wakes up in an underground
bunker with an unstable man claiming the outside world is gone. HORROR/SCI-FI
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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
Written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, Damien Chazelle Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. Sequel to 2008's Cloverfield |
I wasn't a fan of the original Cloverfield, mostly because I didn't know what the hell was going on and the lack of interesting characters didn't compel me to care. This ingenious sequel erased my dislike of the first film and gave me a reason to like this mysterious franchise. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a tense thriller that does a fantastic job of keeping the audience in just the right amount of suspense so that we don't know exactly what's happening, but we know it isn't good. Led by strong performances from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman, this film will go down as 2016's biggest surprise hit.
This film deals with the mindset of doomsday preppers, survivalists who are convinced that the world will come to an end soon and they must be prepared for every eventuality. John Goodman plays Howard, a mysterious conspiracy nut who convinces Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) and eventually Michelle that the world above their bunker has been destroyed by chemical warfare. The entire film has you convinced that this man is not entirely insane and that something else is going on. The end result is nothing short of unsettling and connects this film to the first with a powerfully unpredictable third act. This film succeeds based on its well-written screenplay and brilliant cast. It builds on its confined space and dishes out suspense left and right. Somebody is lying about something, but what? I've no doubt that 10 Cloverfield Lane is a game-changer, destined to breathe new life into sci-fi franchises that have to compete with superhero epics and a sea of remakes. This film brings something new to the table, which is rare these days. |