Vastly intriguing, very well-written, very well-acted... but that ending

Rating: Null/10 (13 March 2016)

This film takes so much pleasure in being exactly what it wants to be, a "genre film". From the loud score in many scenes (which works wonders), to the clever way that it follows certain formulas while still managing to be distinct in its own way, there's something so instantly likable about it. It helps that it's very well-written, structurally effective, and the trio of performances and characters are very strong. John Goodman should seriously be in consideration for some end-of-the-year mentions or critic awards. I think the whole thing is just a wonder. It's briskly paced and it's magnificently directed.
Then those last 15 minutes happened. I wonder, had it not been expected to have a connection to Cloverfield, would the writers have gone there? Was that always their intention? Did they name the film what they did because they were pressured? If so, what would the ending have been like? I think it would have been very frustrating had Winstead gone outside, realized that there was no radiation-type thing and that everything was absolutely normal. Many stories and films have done that sort of thing, and it would have been so easy to do that here. I don't have a problem with aliens existing in the film. I just think it's ironic that it's this film, which is spent almost all inside a bunker, that doesn't follow the "less is more" approach, something which its sibling film, which was a lot more action-paced, followed. They overdo it with the chase sequences, and they show the aliens way too much. It just felt like a different film. They should have seriously shortened that last sequence. I don't think it ruins the film at all, but does it bring it down a level or two? Possibly, yeah.
I still love the film. I think it turns and twists in ways that are exciting, clever, and just fun, without turning into stupidity. Those last 10 minutes aside, there's not much that I have a problem with. I'm hoping I warm up to its ending with time.