MOVIE REVIEW: 10 Cloverfield Lane

10 Cloverfield Lane
DIRECTOR: Dan Trachtenberg
CAST: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr
CLASSIFICATION: 13V
RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes
RATING: 4 stars (out of 5)
Theresa Smith
SMART, tense and surprisingly pared down, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a very entertaining take on the claustrophobic thriller.

Credit: Michele K. Short

John Gallagher Jr as Emmett, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle in 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE, by Paramount Pictures

SMART, tense and surprisingly pared down, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a very entertaining take on the claustrophobic thriller. It keeps you on the edge of the seat and then when you think you’ve figured out what is going on, it chucks you right off the chair.

The basic set-up is that pretty young thing Michelle wakes up in Howard’s (Goodman) cellar after a horrible accident. Howard, a very serious doomsday prepper, insists that he has saved her from a horrible end because the world out there has gone madly poisonous. Confirming that is Emmett (Gallagher), who says he saw that something bad had happened and wormed his way into the shelter.

As the three settle into a routine of sorts, Michelle remains suspicious of Howard’s motives and director Dan Trachtenberg (helped along by editor Stefan Grube) doles out the story at just the right pace to keep you questioning whether he is a psycho or a good Samaritan.

Goodman is great as the man with the key to outside – by turns menacing and sweetly magnanimous, he sets himself up in a sort of father role, creating their schedule, keeping the peace. He sticks to a very thin line between coming across as deceitful and caring and keeps you guessing. He gives us both Monsters University Goodman and Inside Llewellyn in overdrive Goodman – so we knew he could do it, but both at the same time? That’s scary.

Winstead gives us a smart heroine who keeps her head as she tries to make sense of her circumstances, constantly weighing up what she hears versus what she sees.

Gallagher JR is a tiny third wheel in comparison to the other two, but he does well as the doubting Thomas who makes Michelle question her every thought.

We experience the story very much from her point of view as she tries to piece together what has happened and questions everything. Every turn of a lock, every sideways glance, even something as simple as one person talking to another gains a sheen of horror because you can read it two ways. You think you know what is going on, but like Michelle you vacillate between the clues.

Bear McReary’s unrelenting soundtrack is by turns foreboding and lulling and the bunker is a veritable treasure trove of kitch – from the duck shower curtain to the jukebox – but what does it all mean?

10 Cloverfield Lane goes off in another direction once Michelle figures out what is going on and it really gives the game away to discuss, so suffice it to say this genre mash up works as long as you go into it blind. If you like suspense, don’t watch the trailer, just go watch the movie. Twists and turns work best when you don’t see them coming and it is rare for a film to arrive on circuit with much hoopla that doesn’t actually give the game away.

If you liked 2008’s Cloverfield’s tense atmosphere, you will love this.

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