Really Tense and Well Acted, You Don't Need To Be Attached To The Original Cloverfield To Appreciate It

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2016)

I'm not trying to hate on Cloverfield but it didn't stick with me as it did for some people. I watched it once and I remember liking it but I never had the urge to watch it again. When I heard that they had produced the sequel in secret, I was more surprised than anxious to see it. With the good reviews and the big box office gross, I decided to check it out, being impartial going in. I left not just surprised but also completely happy I took the time to see it.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* 10 Cloverfield Lane really jumps right into it with our main character Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) quickly packing up her things and leaving an apartment. We see her leave her keys and a ring on the counter. She drives out to the country and stops to get gas with a yellow truck pulling in behind her. When she gets on the road again she gets a call from her boyfriend Brad (voice of Bradley Cooper) begging her to come back. She tries to ignore the call but she eventually picks up. Before they can really get into it, the same yellow truck tries to pass her and strikes her car, causing her to crash through the guard rail and down a hill.
She wakes up in a dingy room with a mattress on the floor and her leg chained to a pipe. She sustained an injury to that leg and is wearing a brace. A man enters the room with food and Michelle pleads for her life. He barely answers her, gives her the key to her chain and some crutches and leaves. She fashions a weapon out of one of the crutches and when he comes back she attacks him. He puts her down and leaves. Later he comes back and offers an explanation and a threat that if she pulls anymore crap, he will throw her out of the bunker. His name is Howard (John Goodman) and he claims to have saved her life. He says that the end of days (its implied it could have been nuclear war) has happened and that they need to wait out the fallout (the air is full of radiation apparently and it could be years before they go back outside again). She doesn't seem to believe him but he warns her that he isn't kidding around. It's important to know that Howard seems unstable and possibly crazy. He offers to give her a tour and she bumps into the bunker's other resident Emmett (John Gallaghar Jr.).
On the IMDb page for 10 Cloverfield Lane lists the movie as a mystery/drama/horror but I think that I would describe it as a thriller. I say that because it is white-knuckle tense, especially in the middle of the film. You are trapped with these people and you know something is up but the movie plays it in such an excellent way is that you are never sure of anything. Is Howard telling the truth? Is he is as unstable as he looks? What has happened outside? What I thought changed from scene to scene and the fact that I second guessed myself so many times is a sign of how tightly the movie holds its cards. It doesn't spoon feed you when a lesser movie would and I appreciated that.
So I mentioned in the summary that you don't need to be familiar with the first Cloverfield to enjoy this movie. I think that might be the biggest credit to 10 Cloverfield Lane is that it functions so well outside of the original movie, it completely works as it's own thing. I can't be completely sure but the connection to the original movie only comes at the very end (minus the fact that the apocalypse may have happened) and I liked the ending but I really think they could have left it out. I don't want to spoil anything but most of the movie is these 3 people trapped in a bunker together and it is so tense and involving I would have been happy with just that.
With this movie being in such a confined space, it's up to the actors and actresses to keep you interested and to sell the situation. 10 Cloverfield Lane focuses on 3 actors and they are all great. I hadn't seen John Gallagher Jr. in anything else but he was really good here. He gets the least screen time of the 3 but he makes the most of it. I had seen Mary Elizabeth Winstead in stuff here and there but she gives a great leading performance. She helps you get behind her character, she's resourceful and you want her to make it through this. This is due to Winstead's acting job. As great as the other cast members are the best acting comes from John Goodman. I think we can all agree that Goodman is an excellent actor but he's playing against type in 10 Cloverfield Lane. It's through the fact that it is John that you want to believe in Howard but you realize that the movie's tag line that "monsters come in many forms" might just apply to him best.
I was completely surprised by 10 Cloverfield Lane. It was slow in the beginning but by the time we hit the halfway point, I was completely invested. The acting is great, the dialogue and the characters were well written and the movie did a lot with a fairly modest scenario. The ending was interesting but I can see why some people weren't happy with it. I could have done without it, it still worked, just not as well as the bottle film that the rest of the movie had been. I think anyone attached to Cloverfield will love this movie and I would recommend it regardless of how you felt about the first one. In fact I'll probably re-watch it soon.