10 Cloverfield Lane is a surprise delight that really came out of nowhere. In a new marketing stunt/ technique, executive producer J.J. Abrams and his production company, Bad Robot, decided to attach the trailer to the Michael Bay movie: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. This was done merely weeks before the release of the movie. Basically, the first time you see the trailer is a week before it comes out. It’s interesting, considering that most movies these days have at least four theatrical trailers that come out, and several t.v. spots; each more revealing than the last. When the movie is finally released, you ask yourself: “what is there left to watch?” Pleasantly, not the case here by any stretch. 

More of a spiritual sequel to the 2008 movie Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane is the directorial debut of Dan Trachtenberg, and will surely launch his career as a sci-fi film director. Similar to what the film District 9 did for director Neil Blomkamp. Drawing it’s inspiration from video games such as ‘Fallout’ and ‘Half-Life: 2,’ 10 Cloverfield Lane explores what life would be like living in a fallout shelter after a nuclear holocaust. Food, shelter, and your life; all the comforts of home, but given at the graces of a sociopath. What I just described to you may sound like a science fiction movie, but it really takes on the life of a movie more like Stephen King’s adapted for the screen novel: Misery. Yes, you are given life, shelter, food; but you are also a prisoner of an unstable and violent person. 

Highly underrated for his dramatic roles, John Goodman is the life of this movie. Essentially there are really only three characters in this movie, all great performances, but John Goodman’s screen presence is electrifying. You can feel the tension radiating off the other characters as he walks in the room, not sure if he’ll be nice or if he’ll snap. It’s a true testament to his talent as an actor, that he can at one moment be funny and a nice person then, snap, become angry instantly. You get a taste of his performance range and talent in the Cohen Brother’s film: ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ and also in Kevin Smith’s ‘Red State’ but here he takes center stage. 

The film largely centers around actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s character. Whom you may remember as John McClane’s daughter in ‘Live Free or Die Hard.’ She fills the role nicely by at first being dainty but quickly evolving into a female heroine. 10 Cloverfield Lane  is very much a female empowerment film, and Winstead does for this movie what Sigourney Weaver did for Lieutenant Ripley in the Alien series. 

I really enjoyed this film, and I would be happy if Cloverfield movies continued to be made. The dystopian society is a bit played out in the video games it is inspired by, but on the big screen; it’s a welcome change from the Marvel vs. D.C. comic book movies. The only thing that I would say is the bad thing about the film is that it is quite predictable from early on and devolves fairly quickly into a slasher type flick, but given the genre that it is put into it is a extremely refreshing take on a science fiction genre.

10 Cloverfield Lane

Director: Dan Trachtenberg

Producer: J.J. Abrams

Written By: Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle

Production Studio: Bad Robot

Rating: PG-13