The Less You Know, The Better

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2016)

The trailer for this film instantly caught my attention and it immediately planted a seed of doubt as to what was truly going on – who are the good guys and the bad guys? Who's telling the truth? The great thing about 10 Cloverfield Lane is that the air of mystery transcends throughout the lifespan of the film – from the very limited information divulged from a very clever marketing campaign to the first two acts of the actual film, you are constantly questioning every aspect.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who you may remember from the 2011 remake of The Thing and (one of my personal favourites) Scott Pilgrim vs The World, plays Michelle and what an amazing performance. She's such a talented actress and this may be the first film where she will be truly recognised for her abilities. The movie opens with Michelle on the run, driving as far away as she can after what appears to be a dispute with her fiancée Ben. She is soon involved in a car crash and finds herself chained to a pipe in a dank basement. It's not long before she meets her captor (or saviour?) Howard – played by a chilling John Goodman. His character is a far cry from Dan Conner in Roseanne but his variety of roles lately have proved that he is a Hollywood heavyweight well- deserving of overdue praise.
From this point onwards, the film begins to play a frustrating game with our psyches – Howard claims that he has in fact saved Michelle after her accident from what might be a potentially fatal biohazardous attack. Michelle, however, has her reservations about what Howard's true intentions are and what I loved most about this movie is that it is a long time before you are really certain as to what's going on.
This is one of those films that the less you know, the better so I won't continue with any further information than this. My one qualm was with how the film ended but it's very minor compared to how much I truly enjoyed this insane thrill-ride that had me at the edge of my seat the entire time.
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