Ratherb Diassapointing, albeit well-filmed bottle-style psychological thriller

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2016)

Fair warning - some spoilers below, nothing major.
I went to the movie excited by the User reviews IMDb, only to emerge disappointed and somewhat bored. After going in expecting real suspense and significant plot twists, I was disappointed to find that the move was largely predictable and ended in the worst way possible. it's not bad by any means, but it's not good either. while demonstrating great fundamentals, it makes one or two key errors early and late in the film that ruined the overall experience for me.
To break it down a bit - pros - Great direction, Dan made one hell of a theatrical debut with this one. cinematography is awesome as well, creating a a perfect atmosphere of claustrophobia that adds to the suspense. acting is noteworthy, though John Goodman's exceptionally strong performance overshadows Mary E. Winstead and John Gallagher weaker showings a little too much, even if the feeling of dominance is somewhat intentional. There are many spectacular scenes that really carry through with amazing tension. The writers made sound decisions on character development - or the lack thereof - choosing to focus on the action instead of useless exposition and backstory.
cons - Given knowledge of how bottle thrillers typically play out, and with a few key pieces of foreshadowing that occur during early - mid movie, most of the key plot points and character motivations were surprisingly predictable. This is a big no-no for me with thrillers, especially when most of it could have been avoided with just a little more subtlety in the writing.
This would not have completely ruined the film if it were not for the biggest mistake of all - The bloody ending. Seriously, screw the ending. Completely unnecessary plot point that serves only to tie the film into the "anthology" universe that's being built around the original "Cloverfield." I know that things associated with J.J. Abrams generally have a problem with the concept of "a hat on a hat", but i was not prepared for having something so completely non-sequitur to the rest of the film dominate the last 15 min. The name of the film and other foreshadowing points should have prepared me somewhat, but I held out hope that it was really going to be something different, I suppose. It also ripped off the newest War of the Worlds in the last big "survival moment" of the entire film, which only served to add insult in injury.
Overall, 10 Cloverfield lane is a solid film that makes a few critical errors which serve to greatly diminish the overall experience. Perhaps the other reviews are correct about going in with less expectation, and other viewers may enjoy the film in spite of what I perceive to be it's main failings, but i really just can't recommend this movie for a theater viewing.