Mysterious Thriller Delivers on Vague Preview

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2016)

10 Cloverfield Lane is exactly why I love doing these previews and reviews. The movie begins, just as the preview suggests, with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) getting into a pretty bad car accident. When she awakens, she is handcuffed to a wall in a bunker. Her captor, or savior, Howard (John Goodman) informs her that it's not safe outside of the bunker. Emmett (John Gallagher Jr) is also in the bunker and appears to be Howard's friend, or co-captor. It takes a little while to reveal this, but Emmett helped Howard build the bunker and begged to be let in when whatever happened outside the bunker happened. Michelle attempts to escape despite Howard's fervent pleas that he is doing this for her own good.
The movie was directed by Dan Trachtenberg who really hasn't done much before this release. I love me some John Goodman. Mary Elizabeth Winstead has been around, but isn't a big name actress. She was in A Good Day to Die Hard as John McClane's daughter Lucy and was in a cute film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as Romona Flowers, Scott's love interest. There's actually a scene in the movie that Die Hard fans will be waiting for Michelle to say, "Come out to the coast, have a few laughs." If you don't know what I mean, you aren't a true Die Hard fan. Spoiler alert, she doesn't say it.
My point is, you know you're going to get something great from John Goodman and JJ Abrams, but the rest of the cast and crew, along with the preview, leave you wondering what exactly that something is. It's wonderful. It looks like a great thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and also guessing as to the true motives of Howard and Emmett in the bunker. I had no idea what I was about to get into, but I was excited to see 10 Cloverfield Lane. Just like the ambiguous trailer, the movie itself keeps you guessing as to Howard's true intentions and what, if anything, really happened outside the bunker. It has twists and turns and the last half hour had me saying, "Wait, what?" "No way" and "What the what?" at least 5 times. I anticipated 4.0 stars for a well-written, well-acted, twisting scary movie that I might just want to buy and watch again, and I'm sticking with that. Well worth it and might just add this one to my collected, but definitely want to see again.