Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr.
Directed By: Dan Trachtenberg
Running Time: 103 Minutes
UK Release Date: 18th March 2016
BBFC Certificate: 12A
This was a hard film to review and grade as I want to tell you if this film is worth seeing without giving too much away. That said, I do wish I had known one thing before seeing it. As such there is a spoiler alert, but to be fair other reviews that are online don’t hold back and reveal everything, which spoils the fun of this movie and your anticipation of it.
JJ Abrams and his team are notorious for teasing audiences and building up their appetites, whether it is Lost (2004-2010), Fringe (2008-2013) or Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015). He gets people talking and is a brand upon himself, utilising various tricks of the trade including misdirection. The fun of guessing what’s going to happen in his productions is great and best done as a shared experience. How many of you watched Lost and were on the forums, trying to get the answers from various fan theories?
And then one day we had a shaky camcorder trailer showing a party, an explosion on the New York skyline, the Statue of Liberty’s head landing in the street and then a release date. We didn’t even know the name of the film being advertised! It is still one of the best teaser trailers around, revealing next to nothing about the film but getting you hooked and searching out for more online.
The marketing of Cloverfield (2008) was excellent and it’s a shame that the home release didn’t have an interactive version of the various viral websites that featured articles and videos that painted the bigger picture. I loved delving into these for clues that supported various theories that this may be a new Godzilla movie, and a few that said it was related to Lost! When I saw it I found it to be one of the best monster movies of recent years, which was great at building tension and suspense, something 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) also excels at, with both leading up to a big and unexpected finale.
Following in Cloverfield’s footsteps, last month the trailer for this film arrived out of nowhere, which is rare for a film these days as secrets are ever rarely kept (before it had only been announced a JJ Abrams produced movie was going to be released). Take Captain America: Civil War (2016) and the appearance of Spider-Man as an example. I first heard about it when initial meetings took place a few years ago and the recent trailer gave us our first good look at him, which is better than seeing a poor quality photo taken on set.
But half of the fun of some movies is the unexpected. The audience goes on a slowly revealed ride full of twists, which is why I didn’t want to know anything about this film before seeing it.
As you will have seen in the trailer, our protagonist Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up in a bunker after a car crash. She has been seemingly been saved by a man named Howard (the excellent John Goodman) and they reside with a young man named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr). She is told that some sort of attack has occurred, possibly a chemical attack and the outside world is off limits. But all is not quite what it seems.
Now this is a highly entertaining film with some great performances from our three main characters, a tight script and great direction from Dan Trachtenberg. Goodman excels in this and is a different breed of psycho from Walter in The Big Lebowski (1998). Mary Elizabeth Winstead is also great and has redeemed herself from the god awful The Thing remake/reboot from a few years ago.
SPOILER ALERT
But this isn’t the Cloverfield sequel you were expecting and besides from a few Easter eggs, it seems to have little to do with it. What has come to light is that this is a film that was shot and completed, and then rebranded with a few additional scenes in order place it within the world of Cloverfield, but not to make it a proper sequel of any kind. I wish I knew this before going in as I was misdirected by the marketing and as such feel slightly cheated.
END OF SPOILERS
What I saw was a tense and well-crafted thriller that is rare to see in the cinema. It’s full of mystery, slow reveals, splashes of humour and is captivating throughout. But for the first half I wanted Michelle to get out of the bunker so I could see what was happening in the outside word and possibly see the monster from the first one.
But after a turn of events I was more receptive to the story unfolding inside of the small bunker, which has the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller mixed with shots from The Shining (1980) and the paranoia of a cold war era science fiction film, ultimately feeling like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) as Michelle has to figure out if the greatest danger is inside or outside.
However, I was expecting one film and witnessed another, which may be set in the world of Cloverfield and lead into a potential franchise that I’m not sure that I want to see. That said, it’s hard to get people into the cinema for a film that isn’t a sequel or part of a franchise. The cinema is expensive and home entertainment is cheap, but I did get a thrill as the audience were collectively freaking out during certain scenes. Many will feel cheated by expecting this to be a sequel; it’s not, and as JJ Abrams has said, this movie is Cloverfield’s spiritual cousin.
I have read some other reviews which disclose everything, but I think it should have been renamed and dropped a bit of the ending. If it had done that it would have been more than another movie, it would have been a different experience for cinema goers and, to be honest, most of us go to the cinema for the experience.
JJ Abrams’s team did a great job marketing this film and I was surprised and entertained but what I saw. It’s a great monster movie, but not necessarily the one you are expecting. To he honest, if it had followed my expectations and has the second half I imagined, I would have probably been underwhelmed by what I saw. Although I have my theories of how a potential third film would integrate all of the elements, this is the movie business and a sequel, whatever type of relative it might be, will be made. And the marketing for that will be great!
But love it or loath it, people have been, and will continue, talking about this fil, and the franchise as a whole. As disconnected as this film may be, it does make me want to re-watch Cloverfield.
Overall Verdict: 10 Cloverfield Lane is a fantastic thriller that should be seen by the masses, featuring great performances and a tight script. However, this is not the monster movie you may be expecting due to the ‘Cloverfield’ name in the titles, and many will feel that they were misled by the marketing. But if you go in expecting something different, you’ll probably enjoy it
Reviewer: George Elcombe
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