Eh

Rating: 5/10 (17 March 2016)

'10 Cloverfield Lane' is the unofficial sequel to the 2008 film 'Cloverfield'. This time however, we are treated to nice steady cinematography instead of the shaky "found footage" from the original. This is probably because the film is trapped underground. Away from any carnage or mayhem that may or may not be occurring on the surface. This isn't the monster movie that the original was, no, this is supposed to be a psychological thriller. I say "supposed to be" because it never really got to me in any meaningful ways. It stays fairly confined and small in scale, which isn't a bad thing. It just forces you to make this a character driven film instead of being story driven. And that is why '10 Colverfield Lane' abounds in mediocrity. Aside from John Goodman, who delivers an outstanding performance as the disturbed Howard, there isn't much to like. This is made worse when the only other characters in the film are so flat and uninspired.
Mary Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. deliver solid performances but the characters they portray are less than solid. Gallagher plays a country boy, so he's kind of an idiot and Winstead plays a girl so she's kind of irrational. That's about it. It literally takes the stereotypes of these people and makes that their only real, discernible trait. Beyond this, it's nearly impossible to come up with any other traits that defined these characters as human beings.
They where essentially plot devices in the John Goodman gun show. (Who really does offer an excellent performance) His character, Howard, is the only interesting part of this film. He is manipulative, conniving, eerie, and incredibly unsettling. His presence anchors this film in a rather convoluted reality.
A reality that makes less and less sense the more the film plugs along. While I will say that the film did a great job of clouding the truth that lay just outside this under ground bunker, it doesn't amount to much. There are multiple plot lines that take effect here and not one is seen through to the end.
Once we finally emerge from the metal deathtrap the film really nose dives. There is so much tension built by this point that even a mediocre conclusion would have been satisfactory. But it's not even that good. The best word I can use to describe it without spoiling anything is sloppy. It was so slapped together that basic continuity is thrown out the window just so they could hurry and wrap things up.
While everything else is generally meh, there is one other thing that was truly awful, the sound design. I get that this is a thriller, and a thriller without jump scares just wouldn't appeal to modern audiences but did every single sound have to be ear splitting in volume? Any thump or crash is so deafeningly loud that it actually detracts from the scene. The film is trying to jump scare us so hard that it over exaggerates every single noise we hear.
By the end I was so tired of this that legitimate scares didn't get to me. I sat starring blankly at the screen waiting for it roll credits. Again, not everything is bad though. If you have any desire to see this film you will most likely leave genuinely impressed by Goodman. The film pitches him the most complex character and he knocks it out of the park. But when nearly everything else is so uninspired it makes '10 Cloverfield Lane' seriously difficult to sit through.