So it’s been long enough to say that Cloverfield was a Godzilla type film about invading alien behemoths. It was a decent but forgettable flick that gained a boost because of the JJ Abrams link and the deliberate lack of marketing and promotion.
While 10 Cloverfield Lane is not a sequel, it is apparently known as a ‘spiritual successor’ to that film…
No idea why, as aside from the last 15 minutes – a quarter hour that lets down the film by the way – the only thing that this shares with Cloverfield is the fact that they are both middling films unnecessarily overrated by critics.
In keeping with the hush-hush motif I will not say much about the film’s plot aside from saying it opens with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) having a car accident and spends much of the remainder of the film having her share close quarters with Howard (John Goodman) and Emmett (John Gallagher Jr).
Goodman continues on with his late career ‘intense guy’ persona from such films as Red State and Death Sentence, but it is wasted in a film that can’t decide which story it wants to tell.
At least torture porn crap was a thing. There is potential to be found in the tension generated by forced proximity and the uncertainty of unpredictable men. I counted at least five potential plot lines that were not pursued, and wondered often just how intriguing and mysterious it is for people after your audience is thoroughly bored.
At one point the characters play board games. It’s a short step from there to sitting down with a cup of tea to complete a crossword puzzle.
Obviously this sounds as if I loathed 10 Cloverfield Lane, when in fact I didn’t. It’s just that I’ve seen most of it a dozen times before, and elsewhere I’ve seen the finale fifty times – 48 of them better than this turned out. The ending here seems tacked on to generate ‘spiritual links’, when in fact all it does is sully what was an efficient but generic flick that isn’t nearly as cool and clever as it – and most critics – seem to think it is.
Final Rating – 6.7 / 10. 10 Cloverfield Lane wants to be the neighbour of the original beast, but all it becomes is the eccentric shut-in with a story that proves less interesting to the one you imagine.
