10 Cloverfield Lane review: “Loud, intense, cinematic fun”

10 Cloverfield Lane review: The semi-sequel to the 2008 film Cloverfield is one of the most intense movie experiences of the year.

10 Cloverfield Lane review by Paul Heath. 10 Cloverfield Lane, as you can possibly tell by its title, is associated very loosely with the 2008 monster movie Cloverfield, the film produced by JJ Abrams, and one that helped put future ‘Planet Of The Apes‘ helmer Matt Reeves on the map. Just two months ago, we didn’t know of its existence, and now, following a very solid opening Stateside, the film arrives on U.K. shores.

From a screenplay by Josh Campbell, Michael Stuecken and Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle, the film revolves around the character of Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a young woman who, from the opening few frames, seems to be going through a messy break-up with her boyfriend, Ben (voiced by none other than Bradley Cooper). When Michelle drives out of town to escape her situation, she is suddenly and very violently run off of the road in the middle of nowhere, and is immediately knocked unconscious. Jump to a few hours/ days later and she awakes in the confines of a windowless, furniture-less room containing just a mattress on the floor, some bed clothes and her belongings in a corner. Oh, and she’s also attached to a drip and her leg is in a brace, cuffed to the wall. It becomes apparent that Michelle has been ‘taken’, and is seemingly being held against her will in a mysterious underground bunker with John Goodman‘s mysterious and menacing Howard the only man with the keys. With a vicious, chemical disease polluting the air outside, Howard has locked himself, Michelle and fellow ‘survivor’ Emmett (John Gallagher Jr) inside for their own safety, away from the unknown threat that awaits on the other side of the doors above. The big question is, who is the real monster? Is it the dangerous environment just feet away on the outside, or something much closer.

Dan Trachtenberg makes his feature debut with this explosive turn, an unrelenting, vicious, intense thriller that is simplistic in its approach, but supremely effective in its execution. For a film that has literally exploded into cinemas from absolutely nowhere, and with very little publicity, even through communications with critics and throughout the film community, this ‘spiritual sequel’ to the Matt Reeves directed 2008 monster flick, which arrived in similar fashion, could just topple it in terms of its the edge-of-the-seat-ness. Those expecting something similar to the first movie will be mostly let down, as this film is very much a one-location thriller that relies more on character piece than big Statue Of Liberty lobbing monsters.

Goodman is excellent as the bad guy/ good guy Howard, a role played to such perfection that we’re already hearing Oscar whispers nearly a year out from the next awards – and deservedly do. His apocalypse-fearing, grieving father cut off from the world in more ways than one, is easily the best thing about the film, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s portrayal of Michelle a very close second. Winstead proves she has the chops and the skill to carry a film of this kind, and its a wonder we haven’t seen more of her since she first grabbed out attention in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof a few years back. Her damsel-in-distress channels echoes of strong female leads like Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley from the Alien movie, though not in the obvious way. Her performance is superb, the actress positioning herself to not just simply knock on Hollywood’s door this time round, but knock it right down and declare that she has well and truly arrived. We’ve even going to forgive her for A Good Day To Die Hard.

The direction is taught, the editing tight as a nut, and 90% of the movie will have you on the absolute edge of your seat. Bear McReary’s moody, building, powerful score adds to the power of the filmmaking and the menace and brooding threat, which is present throughout.

10 Cloverfield Lane is one of those films that are at their best the less you know. In fact, I think that the film may have benefited more if that one word had been left off the title, but still had kept the rest of the film as it is, which is a 100 minute ride of a movie that you never quite know what is coming next. Its an absolute corker.

10 Cloverfield Lane review by Paul Heath, March 2016.

10 Cloverfield Lane is released in U.K. cinemas on March 18th, 2016. It is now playing in cinemas across the U.S.