10
Cloverfield Lane has been out for a couple weekends now, so if you wanted to
see it, you’ve probably seen it by now.
If you don’t
want it spoiled, please skip this review and read one of my other blog entries
instead. (Or re-read one if you’ve already read them all. I wrote them in a
layered way so you can enjoy them multiple times!)
So- since this is kind of a sequel to Cloverfield, let's talk Cloverfield.
Throughout the film, we only know as much as the characters, which keeps things interesting and suspenseful as the situation escalates. It leaves you thinking about it and it begs discussion.
Now- on to
10 Cloverfield Lane.
But this is not really a
sequel. And that’s okay. (The world didn't need another found-footage monster film. There are enough, thank you.)
Its tense and tight trailer tells you pretty well what's up- it's a claustrophobic bunker thriller with one solid jolt after another and a great unhinged lead performance by John Goodman. A young woman awakens underground and Goodman tells her there's radiation outside and they'll die if they go out there. It he right? Is he crazy? Is he right and crazy? Is there really radiation out there? Or something worse?
It's not an indie film. It's studio produced, but they pulled it off for only $5 million. That's commendable and worth supporting with a ticket purchase to encourage The Powers That Be to not make every sf thriller a $200 million spectacle.
It's from the same production company as Cloverfield, but it was filmed under the title The Cellar. "Cloverfield" was dropped into the title about a month before its release. This was a clever trick, because it got everyone talking, trying to figure out how it's connected to that film. Heck, it's the reason I skipped out on work to see it opening day! (Got permission from the boss first. I'm a bad boy, but I'm not that bad.)
Some folks are disappointed by the end result, because it has only the loosest connection to the first film. To them I say: if you want a Cloverfield sequel, J.J. Abrams already made a movie that serves that purpose just fine- Super 8.
Its tense and tight trailer tells you pretty well what's up- it's a claustrophobic bunker thriller with one solid jolt after another and a great unhinged lead performance by John Goodman. A young woman awakens underground and Goodman tells her there's radiation outside and they'll die if they go out there. It he right? Is he crazy? Is he right and crazy? Is there really radiation out there? Or something worse?
It's not an indie film. It's studio produced, but they pulled it off for only $5 million. That's commendable and worth supporting with a ticket purchase to encourage The Powers That Be to not make every sf thriller a $200 million spectacle.
It's from the same production company as Cloverfield, but it was filmed under the title The Cellar. "Cloverfield" was dropped into the title about a month before its release. This was a clever trick, because it got everyone talking, trying to figure out how it's connected to that film. Heck, it's the reason I skipped out on work to see it opening day! (Got permission from the boss first. I'm a bad boy, but I'm not that bad.)
Some folks are disappointed by the end result, because it has only the loosest connection to the first film. To them I say: if you want a Cloverfield sequel, J.J. Abrams already made a movie that serves that purpose just fine- Super 8.
And here's something else no one seems to have noticed: this film resolves the biggest dangling thread from Cloverfield. (HERE COME THE SPOILERS!)
10 Cloverfield Lane indirectly explains that film's monster.
 |
| Artist's conception. |
It's an alien.
They went out of their way in the first film to make you wonder if it's an alien, a sea creature, or a military genetic experiment gone wrong.
They went out of their way in the first film to make you wonder if it's an alien, a sea creature, or a military genetic experiment gone wrong.
But in the last 10 minutes of 10 Cloverfield Lane- after we escape the bunker- we learn that Earth has been invaded by a variety of terrifying-looking aliens.
Now- none of them look like the Cloverfield monster, but it's not a stretch to conclude that the monster from that film was either the first alien to touch down and attack, or was just a glimpse at the invasion of Manhattan while the aliens attacked everywhere else in different ways.
So this film, like the first one, leaves a lot unsaid and lets you draw your own conclusions about what's happening. It presents a microcosm of what happened to one young woman in a bunker during this nightmare scenario, implying that there's a world of things happening beyond her, with lots of stories left to tell in its world.
And this story is told well enough, bless their hearts, I say let 'em tell whatever story they want. No matter how loosely connected.
-Phony McFakename
Now- none of them look like the Cloverfield monster, but it's not a stretch to conclude that the monster from that film was either the first alien to touch down and attack, or was just a glimpse at the invasion of Manhattan while the aliens attacked everywhere else in different ways.
So this film, like the first one, leaves a lot unsaid and lets you draw your own conclusions about what's happening. It presents a microcosm of what happened to one young woman in a bunker during this nightmare scenario, implying that there's a world of things happening beyond her, with lots of stories left to tell in its world.
And this story is told well enough, bless their hearts, I say let 'em tell whatever story they want. No matter how loosely connected.
-Phony McFakename
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