Producer JJ Abrams went to great lengths to keep 10 Cloverfield Lane a secret. The announcement that director Dan Trachtenburg would be working for Bad Robot on a post apocalyptic project called Valencia, which was also referred to as The Cellar, didn't really raise any eyebrows. After some rewrites, Abrams then announced that the film was moving forward as a “blood relative” of the found footage giant monster movie Cloverfield, with a name change of 10 Cloverfield Lane.
Paramount's website had a quote from Abrams saying he wanted to keep the title a secret for as long as possible. Now, 10 Cloverfield Lane is supposed to take place in the same universe as Cloverfield, but is not a direct sequel. In fact, it has little in common with the original film. For one, it isn't found footage (something I was happy about), and it also isn't about a giant monster smashing up a city (something that I was less happy about. I do love a good giant monster smash fest.)
10 Cloverfield Lane is about a woman, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who wakes up after a car accident in stranger's basement. She is then informed that this stranger, played by John Goodman, has in fact saved her life, and that there had been an attack, nuclear or chemical in nature, and that it isn't safe for her to leave. She discovers she is in a well-constructed, fully-stocked fallout shelter with Goodman and another man, played by John Gallagher Jr.
Where the film shines is in the performance of Goodman. He plays an ex-navy survivalist who has gone to great lengths to build and maintain his shelter, a level of doomsday preparation that in and of itself is indicative of a man who is not quite normal. Goodman manages to cultivate an air of imposing menace and, at times, almost clinical detachment, while at other times he projects a patriarchal benevolence that feels protective and almost jovial. But, Goodman's character is clearly hiding something.
10 Cloverfield Lane does a fantastic job of feeding Winstead's character, and by proxy the audience, the truth of her situation. Sometimes it comes quickly and as a matter of fact, and sometimes it happens slowly, with partial truths wrapped in bigger lies. What results is a film that draws us in to the mystery of Goodman's character and what is going on behind his benevolent facade, and the larger mystery of what exactly is happening out there on the surface.
The majority of the film is intense, claustrophobic and mysterious. It's incredibly tight and deliberate, with subtle foreshadowing and little wasted movement or superfluous scenes. But, and this is a pretty big “but” that also is kind of a spoiler. So be warned. This may spoil the film for you. I am about to type something possibly spoiler-y. I have made it quite clear this next bit may spoil this film. Here goes: I felt the film falls apart in the last 15 minutes or so. The ending seemed so incongruous with the rest of the film. It takes a major tonal shift and becomes something completely different from the entirety of the build, and it honestly felt tacked on to somehow tie the film to the original Cloverfield. I think the film could have been better served by losing this attempt to join it to the Cloverfield universe and just letting it be its own thing.
But, maybe, that's just me.
—Eric Harrelson
Paramount's website had a quote from Abrams saying he wanted to keep the title a secret for as long as possible. Now, 10 Cloverfield Lane is supposed to take place in the same universe as Cloverfield, but is not a direct sequel. In fact, it has little in common with the original film. For one, it isn't found footage (something I was happy about), and it also isn't about a giant monster smashing up a city (something that I was less happy about. I do love a good giant monster smash fest.)
10 Cloverfield Lane is about a woman, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who wakes up after a car accident in stranger's basement. She is then informed that this stranger, played by John Goodman, has in fact saved her life, and that there had been an attack, nuclear or chemical in nature, and that it isn't safe for her to leave. She discovers she is in a well-constructed, fully-stocked fallout shelter with Goodman and another man, played by John Gallagher Jr.
Where the film shines is in the performance of Goodman. He plays an ex-navy survivalist who has gone to great lengths to build and maintain his shelter, a level of doomsday preparation that in and of itself is indicative of a man who is not quite normal. Goodman manages to cultivate an air of imposing menace and, at times, almost clinical detachment, while at other times he projects a patriarchal benevolence that feels protective and almost jovial. But, Goodman's character is clearly hiding something.
10 Cloverfield Lane does a fantastic job of feeding Winstead's character, and by proxy the audience, the truth of her situation. Sometimes it comes quickly and as a matter of fact, and sometimes it happens slowly, with partial truths wrapped in bigger lies. What results is a film that draws us in to the mystery of Goodman's character and what is going on behind his benevolent facade, and the larger mystery of what exactly is happening out there on the surface.
The majority of the film is intense, claustrophobic and mysterious. It's incredibly tight and deliberate, with subtle foreshadowing and little wasted movement or superfluous scenes. But, and this is a pretty big “but” that also is kind of a spoiler. So be warned. This may spoil the film for you. I am about to type something possibly spoiler-y. I have made it quite clear this next bit may spoil this film. Here goes: I felt the film falls apart in the last 15 minutes or so. The ending seemed so incongruous with the rest of the film. It takes a major tonal shift and becomes something completely different from the entirety of the build, and it honestly felt tacked on to somehow tie the film to the original Cloverfield. I think the film could have been better served by losing this attempt to join it to the Cloverfield universe and just letting it be its own thing.
But, maybe, that's just me.
—Eric Harrelson
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