Pretty good, but not great

Rating: 6/10 (10 March 2016)

10 Cloverfield Lane is a sci-fi mystery film considered to be a "blood relative" of the 2008 film Cloverfield. In all honesty, I'm not really sure what to make of what I have just seen. While I enjoyed the suspense and mystery surrounding the plot, the pay-off wasn't really worth the effort.
After surviving a car crash, a young woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up to find herself in a sealed-shut underground bunker owned by a middle-aged man named Howard (John Goodman). Howard tells Michelle there has been a chemical attack and that the rest of the outside world has become uninhabitable as a result. Michelle, believing she is being held captive by Howard, attempts to think of a plan to escape the bunker and see what is really going on outside.
Even though I admired the film's ability to build suspense and a sense of realism, I found the ending somewhat anti-climactic. It's difficult for me to go into too much detail without giving away major spoilers so I'll just say that it left me confused. Both John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead give very good performances. Goodman in particular was very menacing throughout the film. You don't need to have seen the original film to understand what is happening in this one so if you like suspense films, then this film is for you. Unlike the original, this is not a found footage film.
From a technical standpoint, I rate it 7/10. From a regular film going experience, I rate it 6/10.