The selection of films I've seen on
premiere day is pretty thin. Even smaller is how many I've seen
during their first scheduled screenings. Hell, all I can think of on
that front are “The Avengers:, and “The Woman in Black” (odd
double feature, I know). Thursday night brought that up to a trilogy
with the premiere of “10 Cloverfield Lane”, the surprise
“spiritual sequel” to 2008's found footage kaiju flick. Surely
you can imagine I must be a pretty big fan of the first film. I also
didn't want to spend the weekend dodging spoilers on the internet.
Since I was lucky enough to actually be on top of pop-culture for the
moment, I figured I should bring you all a review. Now I'm going to
do my best to avoid spoilers for you fine folk but since I have to
mention certain instances of story for the sake of this review, those
who wish to see it without any clues should maybe go watch TV or
something.
First up is the big question of what
“spiritual sequel” really means. For anyone who doesn't wish to
know about connections (or lack thereof ) with the previous film,
please skip to the next paragraph. You gone? Last chance. Alright, so
back in the early eighties the viewing public was treated to a little
gem called “Halloween III: Season of the Witch.” It was an
attempt to change that series from being solely about a masked killer
to an anthology franchise. It still focused on the same wonderful
holiday and shared several themes but audiences simply didn't dig
it.“10 Cloverfield Lane” makes a similar gambit, sharing themes
and concepts with it's predecessor while forging it's own path. There
are elements that could be used as an argument for this being an
actual sequel, but let's face it, this is something new. You're
either on board with that or not.
As far as the story is concerned,
there is some truth in advertising. The vast majority of the film is
about three people in a survival bunker. One is a young woman who
wakes up after a car accident, another is a fairly basic country guy,
and then there's Howard. Played by John Goodman, Howard is the king
of this particular castle and from the moment you see him there's
doubt if his story of a destroyed world is legit. Thankfully the
movie doesn't take too long before revealing whether there or not
there is any truth to his wild theories. This allows things within
the bunker to unfold at a nice pace without driving viewers up the
wall as they wonder what's true or false.
Performances are excellent all around
with Goodman being the standout in possibly my favorite role of his
since “Arachnophobia.” Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher
Jr both prove to be up to the task of standing up their hosts unique
brand of crazy. It's a blessing to have such talented performers with
a script like this as the character focused narrative could easily
turn insufferable if even one actor failed to pull their weight.
The strong acting helps to hold your
attention which in turn helps the pacing. I didn't even realize the
movie was and hour and forty-three minutes long until I checked IMDB
for this review. Watching it felt more like a breezy eighty minute
flick.
There's plenty of suspense, drama,
comedy, and even a teeny bit of gross stuff for those of us who like
that sort of thing. It's a very well-rounded tale that keeps things
moving and leaves just enough room for later twists which thankfully
don't feel out of place. There's very little to complain about,
though a few details of the bunker didn't seem fully thought out.
Mainly the air vent area being so hard to access. It really felt out
of place for a guy otherwise fully prepared for the end times.
Overall it's a damn fine film,
possibly one of the best we'll see all year. But is it as good as
it's namesake? In my opinion, no. I much prefer Matt Reeve's giant
monster opus yet I'm still happy with what's here. Director Dan
Trachtenberg has crafted a fine thriller with enough juicy details to
elevate it above more traditional fare. I'm hopeful we'll see another
“Cloverfield” someday, maybe a little sooner than eight years
next time.
Oh and a major thumbs up to Howard's
snack selection. I don't know what the shelf life is for Fruit by the
Foot but I'll be damned if I didn't have some around for the end of
the world.
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