THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
2008’s Cloverfield was one of a kind and felt/looked impossible to become a franchise. But that all changed in 2016, when another highly different film came around.
PLOT
10 Cloverfield Lane gives a third person narrative instead of found footage like the predecessor. The film shows Michelle leaving New Orleans after breaking up with her boyfriend Ben (Bradley Cooper). As she passes through Louisiana, she is hit by another car. She then wakes up in a bunker and encounters an older man named Howard who promises to keep her alive. She tries to escape for the first time but he is able to stop her from doing so. He explains to her that they are in a fallout shelter he made and they're staying there because of a recent nuclear attack that made the air toxic. She sees from the door decayed pigs which supposably back up what he's saying but she does spot the car that hit her, meaning that he had done so. She also meets Emmett, who helped Howard build the bunker. He broke his left arm when he attempted to enter in time before the toxins got to him. In her second attempt, she is able to snatch Howard's keys in order to leave but when she sees a woman whose face was decomposing, she changes her mind. As she stays, Howard says that he hit her with his car on accident and apologizes for his behavior. He than tells her of his daughter Megan who left with her mother years prior. One day, Michelle fixes air-filtration unit due to fitting through the vents to get to it. But she finds the word 'help' scratched on the locked skylight. Due to this discovery, she asks Emmett about Megan when showing him the picture Howard showed her. He answers that it's not Megan but another girl named Brittany. When finding a picture of the real Megan, it's quickly deduced that Howard must have abducted her and killed her when she tried to escape. Michelle attempts to make her own hazmat suit, preparing for her next attempt to escape the bunker. However, Howard confronts her and Emmett of the tools he discovered, and demands an answer of their usage or he would kill them both by exposing them to a barrel of perchloric acid. Emmett takes the blame, claiming he wanted to make a weapon in order to make Michelle respect him. He apologizes but as Howard accepts it, he shoots him believing he'd kill them both. Eventually, Michelle finishes her suit but when Howard finds it, she begins to flee. As she escapes, she pushes the barrel of acid to the ground which injures Howard but also causes an electrical fire. As she gets out, the bunker explodes and takes Howard's life. She decides to take off the suit when seeing birds overhead. As she realizes the air to not be toxic, she is discovered by a biochemical alien craft due to the bunker's explosion. She is chased away by an alien on the ground but avoids it when entering a car. The craft picks up the car but she escapes death as she makes a Molotov cocktail and throws it into its mouth, killing it in the process. It lets go of the car and she survives the impact. The film ends with her heading to Houston after hearing a distress signal for aid.
THOUGHTS
When seeing this film back in 2016, I recall slowly saying to myself 'Oh my god' because it took me a while to process what was a great sci fi movie. It's one of those movies that sound simple on paper but exceeds onscreen. Although this is connected to 2008's Cloverfield, it didn't feel that way because the story was isolated in order to stand out. It honestly didn't feel like a sci fi movie until the third act which I thought played out very well, due to great writing by Damien Chazelle, Josh Campbell and Matt Stueckben. I easily enjoyed Bear McCreary's score as he succeeds in making it more intense than it should be. I don't have a lot to say with the aliens here as they are the one thing to tie in with the 2008 predecessor, which is the whole point of their presence. They'll never be as scary as the Clover but I think they're fairly intimidating in their given time. This movie is great and it deserves to be but even with the said opinion, there were a few flaws. First off, I know that Howard should've not waited it out on telling Michelle what's going on if he wanted her to trust her. He may have not known she would try to attack/escape the way she did but he shouldn't be keeping that secret, besides other things. I also find it mind blowing how he didn't even hear the conversation Michelle and Emmett had on the Megan revelation. And how does he not have his own hazmat suit in the bunker incase he has to get more supplies outside? I mean it is a coincidence how Michelle finds a page on how to make a gas mask but Howard should've had either a suit or a mask somewhere considering how prepared he had been. And how is he not keeping an eye on them as the suit is made? If they're trying to imply that they made this when he was sleeping, they should've said so. I'm not trying to root for the villain here, but I'm trying to point out he could've been a little bit smarter than he's supposed to be. The second you ignore all of these flaws, you'll still be loving this movie for what it is. Since I spent a while talking about Howard, I gotta admit that John Goodman was incredible for the said role. The actor has played the most likable roles to date but his gearshift here pays off. He is one of the most intimidating figures you'll ever see as he is mostly on edge. His aggressive and unstable attitude is backed up due to his experience in the Navy. That period of his life messed with him and losing his daughter finally broke him, leading to him abducting Brittany in order to fill the missing gap. When he killed her, Michelle was his next attempt and based on how he was towards her with and without Emmett around, it felt as if he was trying to control rather than comfort her, giving a vibe resembling Stephen King's Misery. With that being said, Howard should get more recognition when talking about villains. There isn't much to say with John Gallagher Jr. as Emmett but I think what made him likable was how human he was. He was clumsy but caring which made viewers appreciate his bond with Michelle. So when he is suddenly killed, it hurts because without him, she had no one left to trust. Speaking of Michelle, Mary Elizabeth Winstead owned it as the leading lady. She is a troubled woman based on how her past haunted her. She avoided every problem in her way by just running away. She chose not to save another kid from abuse and broke up with Ben because she was scared. Every time things got bad she'd run but by the time she was captured (besides driving to Houston), it was her wake up call to not run anymore. What I liked about her is how smart she was as she always had a good sense of resourcefulness whenever she attempted to escape. Seeing her put her skills to use and confront her demons is great because I don't think we get enough empowering female characters like her until this one came out. Overall, Dan Trachtenberg debuted strongly as a director with this unique sci fi thriller. If you love the first Cloverfield movie, you won't be disappointed with this one.
Comments