Of all the movies that are filmed with an iphone attached to the waving arms of an inflateable-dancing-man, Cloverfield was certainly one that worked for me. Never revealing anything about the monster, or why it was there or where it was from - a true monster movie.
When the first teasers for 10 Cloverfield Lane popped up, people were "is it Cloverfield 2?" We soon found that, yeah kind of but maybe not, and now we don't know really.
What we sort of have is....Remember the movie Signs? It was about an alien invasion but only through the eyes of a small farm family. Like, a worldwide event viewed through a hole in the wall. Imagine this but with tons of suspense, grit and you not spending the whole film trying to guess the end.
Michelle, our leading lady gets into a car crash and ends up waking, seemingly trapped in a bunker. Her captor, Howard (as I'm sure you know by now, brilliantly played by John Goodman) as scary and intense as he is unreadable.
Being ex-military and a survivalist, Howard belives that the US has been attacked by either an Asian country, their own governmant or oddly enough, something from outer space. Outside is unsafe, they must survive in the bunker.
Where as Michelle was taken to the bunker against her will the other house guest, Emmett is gratefull to be saved and to have survived (and will continue to survive) "the attack".
So what follows is a claustrophobic "three men in a diving bell" style slow-burn where it's not 100% clear who is the crazy one or who can be trusted. Things are revealed which twist and turn but like the setting of 10 Cloverfield, the plot never lacks space and minimal simplicity.
We're spolier free here at HBTS so nothing about the end but...wait and see!
8/10 Masks
