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10 Cloverfield Lane Review
9 years ago
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………Huh.
RATING: 7/10
Just got back from seeing 10 Cloverfield Lane. Let’s talk about this shiz.
So this movie is as simple as ever: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a fashion designer named Michelle running away from her husband (fiancé?), for unknown reasons. She gets in a car crash. Then she wakes up and finds herself stuck inside a bunker run by Howard, played by John Goodman. Then Howard tells her:
“You can’t go outside. It’s all bad and stuff.”
Then Michelle is all like:
“Fuck.”
Now we have our movie!
It’s very straightforward from there: Michelle has to get free, while Howard is keeping her and another man named Emmet captive. What I love about the film is that for such a simple premise, there’s a lot of questions and mysterious things going on, namely with the characters. Howard constantly flip-flops in the film. Sometimes he’s perfectly reasonable—other times he seems very unhinged and is more than likely a serial killer. And it’s…implied that some people may have been murdered by him, but we don’t know. But some of the scariest things that happen in the film are during the laid-back scenes. At one point Emmet and Michelle are eating dinner, and you can tell that Howard is just a tiny bomb that’s gradually inflating itself, ready to blow up.
But then later on Howard seems very friendly and even admits that he did something bad to Michelle. And for a while things seem okay! But you know in the back of your mind there’s something wrong with Howard, and we’re going to find out soon…
Michelle is one of the best female protagonists I’ve seen in a thriller in the past few years. She goes through lots of development, she never stops fighting back, she’s very smart and resourceful, and she’s wonderful at crafting. To the point where I’d love to have her on my side should a zombie apocalypse ever occur. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead did an outstanding job portraying said character; John Goodman did a wonderful job too. He’s one of the scariest “villains” I’ve seen in quite a while. And he’s not some CGI monster, not some zombie, not some serial killer (or is he?) or some rapist (or is he?) or anything like that. He’s just a guy who’s………..off. And dangerously genre savvy.
Emmet was cool too; he’s the comic relief character. Like Omid from The Walking Dead game. But like Michelle, he goes through some development too; he’s not just there for the sole purpose of being funny and delivering crappy, unfunny one-liners that you don’t give a shit about. He’s a character, not some tool that talks and is obsessed with making everyone laugh. The only issue I have with Emmet is that he doesn’t get as much screentime or development as Michelle or Howard. We don’t find out as much about him as we want to—which is a shame really, because John Gallagher Jr. did a brilliant job portraying his character too.
That’s……..that’s really all the movie is. Three people are trapped in a bunker. One of them is crazy and may or may not be trying to kill our two protagonists. But they can’t leave, because there’s some bad shit outside the bunker (or is there?). It sounds boring, but this was a very well-written, well-directed, well-acted movie and one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, right next to Zootopia. I would highly—
OH WAIT. I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE THIRD ACT. >__>
Okay, so……..won’t spoil anything, but during the second half of the final act of the film, something happens. And when it happened, I was thinking:
“Oh snap! They’re…….oh. Okay. So…..so SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER this whole time? I’m…….what?”
This film was perfectly fine, then they pull some bullshit they pulled from the remake of Evil Dead. The movie “ends,” then keeps going. This worked for Zootopia because the movie wasn’t finished yet; that movie simply threw us a curve ball. But there is a point where this film should have ended but it goes on for ten or fifteen more minutes. And I was sitting in my chair thinking:
“NONE of this shit is necessary. NONE OF IT.”
Everything about this film was very vague and mysterious, then the ending made it all much simpler and I wasn’t pleased with the answer I got. On top of that, Michelle goes from being a smart, pragmatic woman to dropping her I.Q. and doing stupid shit. I wanted to scream so loudly:
“GO! JUST! FUCKING! GO! YOU SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER! YOU SPOILER AND SPOILER! NOW FUCKING SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER AND STOP STANDING AROUND LIKE A MORON! NO! DON’T TAKE OFF—OH MY GOD!”
I don’t know how I feel about this movie anymore. This movie was perfectly fine; it was a standard, enclosed, tense thriller with amazing acting. Then the second half of the third act happens. And then the movie ended. And I left the theater going:
“………I don’t know about that ending. This movie was fantastic, up until that was revealed.”
So would I recommend this movie? ……Yes? Keep in mind, I’m someone who can get a little…iffy when it comes to endings. I was about to call the Game of Thrones game one of Telltale’s best adaptations. Then the fucking ending happened and it pissed me off so much that I’m honestly debating if I should bother buying any more of their games. Ass Creed 3 started off great. Then it got stale and repetitive. Then the fucking ending happened, and now I refuse to call Ass Creed 3 by its proper name because of how atrocious that ending was. And while I personally did not hate how Mass Effect 3 ended, I can see why the Internet went batshit-crazy over how ridiculous it was.
Some people think this movie’s excellent with very few flaws, or no flaws. I think it’s excellent, but its one and only noticeable flaw is what turned this from something perfect, into something that was great, but had a weird final act that left me scratching my head and face-palming. This is the exact opposite of how I felt with Godzilla. Godzilla disappointed me because I didn’t see enough; 10 Cloverfield Lane revealed too much when it didn’t need to. And yes, if I see both of these movies again, my opinion on both of them could possibly change. But as it is……yeah. Bit of a letdown.
If you’re gonna see this movie, you need to know two things. First, this isn’t a sequel or spin-off or prequel or whatever to Cloverfield. This is not another monster movie. It’s a thriller involving three people in a bunker. Second, know that the final act is going to be very divisive. Some of you will be fine with the final act; some of you will be like me, and will say the movie’s fine up until the final act. And then there are some of you who will see the final act, and walk out the theater thinking those final ten minutes fucked up the entire film. Honestly if I had known that going in, I might’ve walked out feeling differently.
But now here I am, sitting in my computer chair, wondering why the hell I didn’t see London Has Fallen instead. Or Zootopia. Again.
RATING: 7/10
Just got back from seeing 10 Cloverfield Lane. Let’s talk about this shiz.
So this movie is as simple as ever: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a fashion designer named Michelle running away from her husband (fiancé?), for unknown reasons. She gets in a car crash. Then she wakes up and finds herself stuck inside a bunker run by Howard, played by John Goodman. Then Howard tells her:
“You can’t go outside. It’s all bad and stuff.”
Then Michelle is all like:
“Fuck.”
Now we have our movie!
It’s very straightforward from there: Michelle has to get free, while Howard is keeping her and another man named Emmet captive. What I love about the film is that for such a simple premise, there’s a lot of questions and mysterious things going on, namely with the characters. Howard constantly flip-flops in the film. Sometimes he’s perfectly reasonable—other times he seems very unhinged and is more than likely a serial killer. And it’s…implied that some people may have been murdered by him, but we don’t know. But some of the scariest things that happen in the film are during the laid-back scenes. At one point Emmet and Michelle are eating dinner, and you can tell that Howard is just a tiny bomb that’s gradually inflating itself, ready to blow up.
But then later on Howard seems very friendly and even admits that he did something bad to Michelle. And for a while things seem okay! But you know in the back of your mind there’s something wrong with Howard, and we’re going to find out soon…
Michelle is one of the best female protagonists I’ve seen in a thriller in the past few years. She goes through lots of development, she never stops fighting back, she’s very smart and resourceful, and she’s wonderful at crafting. To the point where I’d love to have her on my side should a zombie apocalypse ever occur. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead did an outstanding job portraying said character; John Goodman did a wonderful job too. He’s one of the scariest “villains” I’ve seen in quite a while. And he’s not some CGI monster, not some zombie, not some serial killer (or is he?) or some rapist (or is he?) or anything like that. He’s just a guy who’s………..off. And dangerously genre savvy.
Emmet was cool too; he’s the comic relief character. Like Omid from The Walking Dead game. But like Michelle, he goes through some development too; he’s not just there for the sole purpose of being funny and delivering crappy, unfunny one-liners that you don’t give a shit about. He’s a character, not some tool that talks and is obsessed with making everyone laugh. The only issue I have with Emmet is that he doesn’t get as much screentime or development as Michelle or Howard. We don’t find out as much about him as we want to—which is a shame really, because John Gallagher Jr. did a brilliant job portraying his character too.
That’s……..that’s really all the movie is. Three people are trapped in a bunker. One of them is crazy and may or may not be trying to kill our two protagonists. But they can’t leave, because there’s some bad shit outside the bunker (or is there?). It sounds boring, but this was a very well-written, well-directed, well-acted movie and one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, right next to Zootopia. I would highly—
OH WAIT. I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE THIRD ACT. >__>
Okay, so……..won’t spoil anything, but during the second half of the final act of the film, something happens. And when it happened, I was thinking:
“Oh snap! They’re…….oh. Okay. So…..so SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER this whole time? I’m…….what?”
This film was perfectly fine, then they pull some bullshit they pulled from the remake of Evil Dead. The movie “ends,” then keeps going. This worked for Zootopia because the movie wasn’t finished yet; that movie simply threw us a curve ball. But there is a point where this film should have ended but it goes on for ten or fifteen more minutes. And I was sitting in my chair thinking:
“NONE of this shit is necessary. NONE OF IT.”
Everything about this film was very vague and mysterious, then the ending made it all much simpler and I wasn’t pleased with the answer I got. On top of that, Michelle goes from being a smart, pragmatic woman to dropping her I.Q. and doing stupid shit. I wanted to scream so loudly:
“GO! JUST! FUCKING! GO! YOU SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER! YOU SPOILER AND SPOILER! NOW FUCKING SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER AND STOP STANDING AROUND LIKE A MORON! NO! DON’T TAKE OFF—OH MY GOD!”
I don’t know how I feel about this movie anymore. This movie was perfectly fine; it was a standard, enclosed, tense thriller with amazing acting. Then the second half of the third act happens. And then the movie ended. And I left the theater going:
“………I don’t know about that ending. This movie was fantastic, up until that was revealed.”
So would I recommend this movie? ……Yes? Keep in mind, I’m someone who can get a little…iffy when it comes to endings. I was about to call the Game of Thrones game one of Telltale’s best adaptations. Then the fucking ending happened and it pissed me off so much that I’m honestly debating if I should bother buying any more of their games. Ass Creed 3 started off great. Then it got stale and repetitive. Then the fucking ending happened, and now I refuse to call Ass Creed 3 by its proper name because of how atrocious that ending was. And while I personally did not hate how Mass Effect 3 ended, I can see why the Internet went batshit-crazy over how ridiculous it was.
Some people think this movie’s excellent with very few flaws, or no flaws. I think it’s excellent, but its one and only noticeable flaw is what turned this from something perfect, into something that was great, but had a weird final act that left me scratching my head and face-palming. This is the exact opposite of how I felt with Godzilla. Godzilla disappointed me because I didn’t see enough; 10 Cloverfield Lane revealed too much when it didn’t need to. And yes, if I see both of these movies again, my opinion on both of them could possibly change. But as it is……yeah. Bit of a letdown.
If you’re gonna see this movie, you need to know two things. First, this isn’t a sequel or spin-off or prequel or whatever to Cloverfield. This is not another monster movie. It’s a thriller involving three people in a bunker. Second, know that the final act is going to be very divisive. Some of you will be fine with the final act; some of you will be like me, and will say the movie’s fine up until the final act. And then there are some of you who will see the final act, and walk out the theater thinking those final ten minutes fucked up the entire film. Honestly if I had known that going in, I might’ve walked out feeling differently.
But now here I am, sitting in my computer chair, wondering why the hell I didn’t see London Has Fallen instead. Or Zootopia. Again.
I believe the "Cloverfield" saga is probably going to be a modern day version of the "Apocalypse Trilogy" of John Carpenter, which consists of The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and In the Mouth of Madness, all very good films which are not related whatsoever in plot, but they all share a common apocalyptic theme. I think of the same thing here because the MOOD of this film kind of matched Cloverfield, with a modern, down-to-earth cast with real problems while world-ending shit is happening all around them. Cloverfield was about a bunch of guys making a video for a friend going out of the country when a giant freakin' monster terrorizes New York. And yet, you barely SEE the monster, but you know it's out there, tearing shit up like a giant monster DO. Same in this film: Young woman leaves her boyfriend, gets run off the road by Roseanne's husband (who is surprisingly intimidating) and trapped in a bunker, while outside a bunch of aliens are spraying the planet with the equivalent of human WEED-KILLER.
Me and Robot Chicken would disagree with you on that.
I knew something was gonna show up just from the way the shot of the house was filmed. You could tell something big was about to emerge. But yeah, I do see how this may end up being a saga of sorts, even though none of these movies are plot-related. It's like an anthology, which is cool. I just really wish that twist wasn't involved in this movie, especially when it almost seemed like the threat in question really was terrorists, or that John Goodman was indeed lying his ass off the whole time, or just something else.
But Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum and a man bashing a baddie's head in with a clock, and a character somehow surviving because a fucking watch stopped the bullet, which is what White House Down is...........no. >__>
Wasn't that good