Baffling plot holes ruined this movie for me

Rating: 2/10 (25 March 2016)

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I couldn't. At the risk of sounding jaded "10 Cloverfield Lane" bored me. I didn't get a sense of tension and foreboding from this movie like I did with "Bone Tomahawk." I enjoyed that one. It was interesting seeing how the sheriff and his posse faced what was going on around them. Plenty of character development there.
Instead I had the feeling that "10 Cloverfield Lane" was really a direct-to-video feature that somehow escaped to the big screen.
First off, I was not impressed with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). I thought she was whiny, rather shallow and not as cunning as she thought she was. I had the feeling that Howard (John Goodman) saw through her act and never really trusted her. He probably figured he could wear her down with time. Goodman was menacing as always. I had no problem with him.
SPOILERS:
There was no dramatic tension here. I knew it was only a matter of time before Michelle escaped.
I knew the giant monster from the first flick was not going to be in this movie. Too bad. Would have made more sense if Michelle had encountered him after she fled the bunker.
Poor Emmett was cannon fodder to me. I knew he was doomed the moment I laid eyes on him.
Howard was supposedly a genius in building his bunker. Then why would he construct air ducts that were so small only a slim young woman could crawl through them? Even if his plan always was to kidnap a young woman and bend her to his will, why would he trust her with such an important task?
Why didn't the acid do more damage to Howard?
Michelle goes from a young woman who doubts herself to Ellen Ripley roasting giant alien ships with a single Molotov cocktail.
And the biggest plot hole of all? Throughout the movie Michelle repeatedly states that she wants to find out what happened to her boyfriend and her family. She says this over and over again. It's her reason for wanting to escape in the first place. Yet at the end, instead of going to look for her family she decides to head for Houston because that city is on the air pleading for people with medical or combat experience.
Michelle has neither. Unless she thinks that sewing up Howard's small gash that one time qualifies as valuable medical experience. And her transition to Rambo just wasn't believable. She heads for Houston even though she knows none of her loved ones live in Houston.
I just couldn't suspend disbelief for this movie. I've read better fan fiction.