‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ is an address decorated in paranoia & monsters

Posted on March 18, 2016

By MARK VIOLA

Less than two months ago, “13 Hours” hit theaters and was preceded by a teaser trailer for “10 Cloverfield Lane,” which like its predecessor, 2008’s “Cloverfield,” had been produced in secret. If you don’t follow movie news, you might not know how unheard of it is today to find about a major release only six weeks before its debut. We know which Marvel movies will be hitting theaters in 2020.

So once the initial shock over the fact that “10 Cloverfield Lane” was actually a movie, and was arriving in just six weeks, faded, the questions began to swirl about just how it would tie in to the original. Was it a sequel? Was it a prequel? Did it happen at the same time?

I don’t want to say too much about the story because it is one of those things where the less you know, the better. But I will say the story centers on a Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”), a young woman in Louisiana hitting the road after breaking up with her boyfriend. She is in a car accident and wakes up in some kind of bunker chained to a bed. There she meets Howard (John Goodman, “Argo”), who tells her he found her after the crash and brought her to the bunker, which is quite fortunate because some kind of disaster or attack has occurred, killing everyone outside. The only other person inside is Emmett (John Gallagher Jr., “The Newsroom”). Is Howard telling the truth? Or is he crazy and it’s an elaborate scheme to keep her prisoner in the bunker? Or maybe both?

This is essentially a three-character play and all three leads give great performances, especially Goodman, who is downright creepy even when he’s being nice to the point you never know for sure if Michelle can trust him or not.

This echoes the script, which keeps the audience guessing as to the truth behind the situation, never letting them get too comfortable before jerking the rug out from under them. This is one of those movies where you really don’t know anything with absolutely certainty until the final 10-15 minutes. And like what I said in “The Witch,” those final moments will be a break-it-or-make-it situation for many people.

“10 Cloverfield” may not be the movie some, myself included, were expecting, but it is a captivating thriller which grabs the audience by the shirt collar and doesn’t let go until the end credits begin to roll.

The film is rated PG-13 for thematic material including frightening sequences of threat with some violence, and brief language.

(This is a abbreviated version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

 

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