10 Cloverfield Lane: Movie Review

"10 Cloverfield Lane" turns out to be more than the connection it wants to imply to have with the hit film "Cloverfield". Ironically, the film shines when it deviates from its sci-fi roots with a pretentious and mysterious tone that's scary and captivating at the same time. But the film does falter heavily towards its latter portions especially with an ending that just feels half-baked and a total cop out.

After surviving a car accident, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up in an underground cellar locked up. She initially fears she has been abducted by a survivalist named Howard (John Goodman), who tells her he saved her life, and that “it is not safe out there”. Uncertain what to believe, she decides she must escape, no matter what dangers she may face outside.

If "10 Cloverfield Lane" was purely a psychological thriller, it would have worked astoundingly well. All the ingredients are there. John Goodman was eerily good as the paranoid survivalist Howard. While Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. also brought much mystery with their on-par acting. The plot was intriguing to say the least. The film is slightly leading in terms of the "clues" it gives the audiences throughout its run time but we appreciated how it left us second-guessing who's telling the truth, what's real and what the heck is happening above ground. Unfortunately, the sci-fi portions of "10 Cloverfield Lane" felt a little bit unnecessary. Not only does the film fail to explain what's happening and what's the cause of the attacks but the last portion left us hanging. The last 10 minutes was a doozy to say the least - and not in a good way. We understand that a sequel of sorts could be in the pipeline but what if there's none? In any case, 3/4 of the film was actually pretty awesome and that for us is a thumbs up already.

Rating: 4 reels

Why you should watch it:
- the psychological thriller portions was actually awesome to experience
- astounding acting from the 3 man cast especially John Goodman

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the scifi portion was underwhelming and half-baked