As usual with a typical JJ Abrams production I must warrant a disclaimer at the start of this review. Not to say I am going to reveal any major plot points, secrets, or third act twists (if there are any). I will put forth my word that I will tiptoe around the goodies and leave them for you to discover. After all, the best way to enter any movie is without any knowledge of what’s about to take place. As is the case with 10 Cloverfield Lane. The semi-sort of twice removed cousin from the 2008 found footage flick Cloverfield. Thankfully, we don’t have to deal with the torments of a shaky first person camera, while effective, became obnoxious really quick (no thanks from T.J Miller).  ​

10 Cloverfield Lane is, as Abrams describes, a “blood” relative to the cohorts of the 2008 film, Lane merely exists in the same universe, but tells an entirely different story. If you wish to avoid ANY plot details and want to go into Cloverfield Lane with a fresh perspective…this is your final warning to turn back!

The movie opens with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as she is frantically cleaning up her apartment for whatever reason, she needs to leave fast. She leaves in her car, drives into the night, and gets into a terrible car accident..leaving her on the brink of death. She wakes up with an IV plugged in her arm, and on the cot inside some cell. My instinct though this was the start of anotherSaw movie. But before that happens we meet Howard (John Goodman) an anxious zealot who claims to have saved Michelle’s life from the outside, and has brought her to his underground cellar. A cellar that is equipped with it’s own air filtration system, sewer line, board games, jukebox, and stocked full with food. Howard has been preparing for the fallout. Only we don’t know exactly what the ‘fallout’ is…so for the first third of the film we have to question ourselves, do we trust Howard?

The movie plays up one claustrophobic nightmare after another, we constantly hear sounds above ground..who could that be? what could they want? It’s a fun puzzle to piece together. And in typical Abrams fashion, the marketing behind the film has done it’s best to keep their lips sealed. So watching 10 Cloverfield Lane feels like you’re experiencing what going to the movies is like all over again. The film is unnerving, edgy, and widely entertaining, despite not being able to fully master the tone it wants. While I prefer the film to have given more focus in certain aspects (to reveal such aspects would ruin major plot lines) – but I think you can garner my idea.

As with any Bad Robot film, like Super 8 or Cloverfield, there is about 90 minutes of anxiety build up and another 15 of a finale. 10 Cloverfield Lane does have some fun with it’s final twenty minutes, and of course leaves the audience to ponder over some possible theories as to what happens. Despite being a tad anticlimactic.

Goodman is quite the character playing Howard, who is basically your doomsday prepper on steroids, while Winstead adds depth to the character of Michelle, and then John Gallagher Jr plays Howard’s neighbor Emmett, a young handyman. All three of this actors are at the top of their games and elevate the material. That’s the great thing about films with only three people in the cast, we get to know and understand them. There is room for them to grow and watch them adapt.

First time director Dan Trachtenberg does great work with his camera angles, doing his best to reveal certain elements over time. I enjoy how the first ⅔ of the film play out like a Stephen King novel, and then it becomes a sci-fi story in the vein of Cloverfield. It’s so much fun to witness, and a lot of the scare factor is played up quite well. Trachtenberg wants us to leave all our morals at the door, and make us question what we would do in these situations. I had a hard time trusting Howard, and then when I started to warm up to him, Emmett and Michelle would find holes in his stories. Leaving me again to just let loose any previous thoughts I had on Howard.

There is a lot of showmanship here and kudos to Paramount Pictures and the folks over at Bad Robot for keeping this film a secret for so long, and not revealing too much so the fans can enjoy themselves. 10 Cloverfield Lane may not be perfect and could have worked better as a 60 minute adventure as opposed to an hour a forty fives minutes. But it still feels like a Summer blockbuster that got misplaced in March. B+