J.J. Abrams and his Magic Box

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2016)

In March of 2007, J.J. Abrams took to the TED Talk stage and spoke to a captive audience about his creative process. He equated his storytelling techniques to an old magic box he bought when he was a kid. "You look a Star Wars...you don't know who that mysterious woman is; mystery box...you open up the message in the droid, she wants to find Obi-Wan Kenobi, but who is that; mystery box." Inside those boxes are endless possibilities that keep the viewer in suspense until that magical moment the box is finally opened. 10 Cloverfield Lane is that aesthetic philosophy put into practice by incredibly talented people both behind and in front of the camera.
10 Cloverfield Lane starts with Michelle (Winstead) packing up her belongings and driving to parts unknown. In the dead of night, Michelle is run off the road and wakes up in a windowless room, attached to a I.V. drip and handcuffed to a pipe. In comes Howard (Goodman), a lumbering, menacing older man who calmly informs her there has been a nationwide attack of some kind. Luckily she was saved in the nick of time by Howard who had his underground bunker built years prior. Naturally, Michelle is suspicious and looks to escape, yet after fellow cohabitant Emmett (Gallagher) confirms Howard's doomsday tale, she must decide whether she's safer in the bunker or outside.
Is this film meant to be a sequel to Cloverfield (2008) the popular found-footage film that made J.J. Abrams a household name? If so, instead of making the sequel bigger, louder and dumber than its predecessor, the film is a tiny, smartly done chamber piece that masterfully plays on the audiences' expectations. This movie is fierce giving the internal and external threats to Michelle's well- being constantly in the minds of the viewers, all while giving us a mystery of sorts to solve.
Much of the credit must be given to the three fine actors who take up the entire movie. Winstead is wonderful as our resourceful and instinctual heroine. As the stakes are inevitably raised higher and higher, she resists succumbing to Bad Decision Syndrome (BDS) and stays ahead of the audience in new and creative ways. Gallagher stumbles a bit when accentuating the balance between southern good 'ol boy and cautious gentleman. Yet his character proves endearing as he breaks the tension between Michelle and Howard on several occasions. If there's one person proving to be the true standout however, it's John Goodman.
Part of the mystery surrounding 10 Cloverfield Lane is Howard's true temperament and intentions. One minute the man is calm, even friendly to his fellow house guests; other moments he explodes with furious anger without much provocation. Howard can be seen by some as a surrogate or a mouthpiece to anti-society types who prep for the coming apocalypse and would take great relish in saying "I told you so." Yet because this kind of attitude largely exists in the fringes, Howard; either through nature or nurture, cannot cope with other human beings. It is revealed early on that Howard brought Michelle to the bunker but if his story is to be believed, for what reason did he bring her? I have my own theory which would explain Howard's natural antagonism towards Emmett. Ironic that a man so dedicated to saving his own life has completely lost his humanity.
Unfortunately, the "practical" purpose for bringing Michelle to the bunker is largely left unexplored which likely helped the film keep it's PG-13 rating but does it no favors either. The film has other faults including tipping its hand too early when it comes to whether the nationwide attack was real or a figment of Howard's imagination. There's also a third act reveal that seems to resolve itself far too quickly. Yet under novice director Dan Trachtenberg's confident vision and the watchful eye of producers J.J. Abrams, Drew Goddard and Matt Reeves et al. this creepy little film has enough Hitchcockian suspense to stem any oversights.
Despite largely taking place in a single multi-roomed bunker, 10 Cloverfield Lane feels like a high quality B-horror film with some surprising twists and turns. The characters are strong and interesting and the events are all generated naturally from the decisions of the characters and not some cockamamie high-concept conceit. It's interesting that an intimate movie like this can be spun-off of a larger than life found footage film monster movie. I guess sometimes the greatest mysteries can come from the smallest packages.