Rating: ★★★★☆
Waking up and finding yourself chained in a rundown basement is always a good start of a film that promises to be exciting. From there it can go many ways, as we have seen in countless of horror and thriller films. Do we see one of those ways in 10 Cloverfield Lane? No, we don’t. Instead, the film gives us two hours of wonderful suspense that keeps you guessing until the very end. Is it a horror? Is it a thriller? Is it a drama? Anything can happen in a closed off bunker.
In this mysterious piece of work we meet Michelle, a young woman who gets involved in a car accident after running away from her fiancé. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a closed off room. The man who put her in there, Howard, claims the apocalypse has come and a poisonous gas has spread across the land, leaving everybody above ground dead. Now seemingly stuck in a bunker with Howard and fellow person in hiding Emmett, Michelle begins to wonder whether they’re really hiding for an apocalypse or whether there is something else that explains her captivity.
With only three actors in play, it is not strange that the focus of the film is not on a huge plot or special effects, but on the acting and the interrelationship between the characters. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is brilliant as the sceptic and strong Michelle and John Goodman does a great job as the mysterious Howard. The great part about their acting and about the film in general is that it all feels very genuine. I cannot stand films in which characters have the most unrealistic response to whatever the situation is. In 10 Cloverfield Lane, the characters (or at least two of them) do exactly what you’d expect them to do. Especially Winstead brings a great deal of humanity to the situation, which ensures that like herself, you will be oblivious to and suspicious of everything that happens.
Although the plot is not very extravagant, the thrill of it is like an exciting rollercoaster that’s heading towards god knows what. Just when you think everything is okay and the issues are resolved, something new shows up to demolish everything you knew up until
that point. It’s like one of those kids sitting next to the volume button of the stereo who keeps turning it up and down. However, in this film it is not a bother at all. It only adds to the suspense and how much you will get attached to the story. The bunker the group is stuck in is pretty advanced but also quite cramped, which adds to the feeling of being closed up and stuck for what seems could be eternity. But do you really want to leave when you know what could be happening up there?
When the suspense finally seems to have died down in the very end, we are presented with the final and biggest twist of the film. It’s a twist that will make or break the film for whoever is watching. But whether you loved it or hated it, it sure is a dealbreaker twist that will leave you impressed anyway. Personally, I loved it and it kind of messed me up too. But that’s coming from someone who did not read or watched anything about 10 Cloverfield Lane in advance, so you decide if that counts.
Whether you want to classify 10 Cloverfield Lane as a horror, thriller or drama; it’s all good. There is plenty of great drama to be found between the three brilliantly played characters, there is A LOT of thrill and suspense to fulfil your needs and there even is a little horror edge to the final product. The film definitely deserves more fame than it currently gets, because it will give you the perfect amount of unsettlement to have you sit on the edge of your seat. The final twist then offers you the ultimate choice; do you love it, or do you hate it? See for yourself, and don’t forget to close your mouth after having it fall open.
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