I really really liked this movie

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2016)

So, I expected something short, sharp and open ended to move onto a loaded big budget sequel to Cloverfield. A gap filler if you will. I was very surprised at how quickly we moved into the deep, personal issues of Howard. I felt for this guy who had been left bitter from what I presume was a hard divorce. However, I am very jealous of his bunker. I think John Goodmans performance is nothing short of brilliant. I've always enjoyed his on screen presence from Roseanne to Barton Fink to The Big Lebowski but this was something else. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was also very good as Michelle. I enjoyed the storyline, the direction was good but I can't understand how someone like Trachtenberg got the opportunity and was trusted to direct such a big movie as he's so young and to be honest, inexperienced with big name actors. He managed to pull it off though and managed to get some good performances. The tone of the movie was tense without any of those tedious jokes to try and break the tension and make sound bites for the trailer. Speaking of the trailer, Bad Robot and JJ Abrams have made a great decision in taking the whole trailer from the first 30 minutes or so. This gives 2/3's of the movie to the audience as a complete surprise which was really refreshing. Seeing so many well known producers and writers (JJ, Burk, Goddard, Chazelle) working on a project like this is refreshing but also very exciting as a fan because this much talent wouldn't be working on just this alone, it's obviously the continuation of the Cloverfield franchise. Anyway, the ending kind of lost me to be honest. It stunk of War of the Worlds and I didn't like that. It seemed like lazy film making. Her fight with the alien ship seemed forced and out of character from what we'd seen from her entrapment. Never the less, it was a surprise (not in the trailer ðŸ˜‰) and it will lead nicely into another movie. All in all I really liked it. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction movies.