Off Topic: 10 Cloverfield Lane Review

"10 Cloverfield Lane" Review:  A Hell of A Ride!

DISCLAIMER:  For some reason the font and size won't stay fixed.  Sorry for any inconvenience 

Here is some advice:  Close this tab in your browser, book tickets at whichever cinema outlet you please, buy tickets for the earliest showing available (seeing this film with friends is not necessary but highly recommended) and relish the superb approach director Dan Trachtenberg took to telling this movie's mystery.  Do not watch the trailer, just go and enjoy this enticing psychological horror/mystery before you hear any details at all.

However, if my advice isn't good enough for you at face value, allow me to explain why 10 Cloverfield lane is my favourite movie of the year.  (So far).

Still here?  Okay.  10 Cloverfield Lane is not a direct sequel to the 2008 monster movie Cloverfield.  I assure you, this is not a monster movie using a tired found footage format chronicling horrific experiences of one dimensional 20 year olds.  Instead, this movie is presented to the viewer with the same mysterious form classic The Twilight Zone episodes are famous for and brilliant, suspense inducing twists that Hitchcock is known for.

The movie opens when Michelle, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, is packing her bags as fast as she can and leaves the city.  Just like Hitchcocks Psycho.  While driving, Michelle is distracted by her phone and partakes in a car accident and we see the opening titles.  She wakes in an unidentified room and discovers she is chained to the wall.  Bloodied and bruised she is greeted by her "saviour" Howard, played wonderfully by John Goodman, who informs her that the world above ground has been destroyed by chemical and nuclear attacks.  

As the progresses, we bare witness to a mystery full of intrigue and uncertainty right until the very end.  Yes, a side plot about Howard's daughter is never properly resolved and people are not wrong for criticising the lack of connection to Cloverfield implied by the title.  However, 10 Cloverfield Lane is better off focusing more in the events set in the bunker rather than outside it and following the events of the first and second act the third act loses steam.  

The first 90 minutes is a fun ride of uncertainty and danger that will have you on the edge of your seat and is nothing short of amazing.  However, the last half hour was just fine. It completely changed the tone of the movie from classic Hitchcock to something that I won't spoil but was disappointing.  I suppose they had to tie in the movie to Cloverfield somehow.

The Verdict:

10 Cloverfield Lane is a remarkable film from a first time director and a fantastic film in general.  While it didn't end the film in the best way possible, I still felt very satisfied by the end credits as most of the story was all tied up nicely.  John Goodman really steals the show as a creepy, miserable, sad lonely man who was prepared for the worst.

See this film, it's really good.

                              9/10