MOVIE REVIEW: 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

10 Cloverfield Lane

Director
Dan Trachtenberg

Cast
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman

This is a completely different type of story than the original Cloverfield movie. That one was an everyman’s point of view of a giant monster movie told through the lens of found footage. Not a complete hit with some people, but I absolutely loved it.

This movie plays like a classic Hitchcock suspense thriller. Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars as woman who gets into a car accident and wakes up in a room being held captive by John Goodman. What follows next is a tense, dramatic prisoner story where we root for our hero to find a way to escape, and try to unravel the truth behind what’s going on with the captor.
Without giving anything away, this is definitely a cousin of the original Cloverfield movie, but it plays like a low budget independent drama. Not a lot of characters, not a lot of settings, mostly a steady rise of suspense. By the time the big questions of the story get answered, you’re either on board with this story or you’re not.

I actually really enjoyed this movie, but I didn’t completely love it liked I hoped.

Another thing that I will say is John Goodman is absolutely phenomenal in this movie. Holy Crap! He ranges from thoughtful protector to creepy warden to amusing lug throughout this unsure journey. He blew me away because I forget just how good of an actor he is.

So usually when sequels are released they amp up what made the original so good (think Aliens) but this movie flips it and dials it back to tell an intimate prisoner drama with some new Cloverfield spice!

Grade 3 out of 5

-Markellus