10 Cloverfield Lane

When I first caught word of the 10 Cloverfield Lane trailer quietly sneaking into cinema screens, I thought of it as another clear example of a sequel that no one really cared for. Don’t get me wrong; I quite enjoyed Cloverfield – shaky found footage and all. It’s just that so much time had lapsed, that the thought of a sequel seemed too detached from the original film itself.

Which is why I was relieved to read that 10 Cloverfield Lane wouldn’t be a sequel, nor would it be a prequel to Cloverfield – instead, it would be a rather pretentiously labelled “spiritual sequel” to the original film.

While the pacing does drag on a little at some parts, the quick resolution and emergence of problems means that the film as a whole progresses in a relatively snappy fashion.

Without spoiling too much, 10 Cloverfield Lane is about Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who finds herself locked in a bunker under a farm, the eponymous 10 Cloverfield Lane, with Howard (John Goodman) – the proprietor of the farm and bunker – and Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), another survivor. That’s about as much as the trailer gives up, and also about as much as I can summarise without giving up the plot.

The film progresses in an almost unrelenting and singular angle in the eyes of Michelle. This focused aim of the story at any given point feels almost claustrophobic, which is only aided by the tight confines of the bunker we find ourselves in for most of the film. While the pacing does drag on a little at some parts, the quick resolution and emergence of problems means that the film as a whole progresses in a relatively snappy fashion. The plot almost feels like a role-playing game where you know what your objective is and you’re just idling time, trying different ways to get it.

Goodman’s acting especially is quite unlike what I’ve seen of his previous work. It is sort of an amalgamation of the characters he’s known to play – goofy dad-like, long-faced, darkly intense

Everything we see and experience is centered on Michelle, there’s no time for any asides or exploring other characters in detail. For a film about someone stuck in a bunker, this approach works brilliantly. We get to fully immerse ourselves, and root for the same goals as Michelle pretty much all through the movie. Throughout the film, we end up raising the same questions that Michelle raises on screen and we see Michelle pursue the answers to those questions as well.

Michelle’s character, brilliantly played by Winstead, is really a placeholder for the audience here. It’s this point that made me understand what Abrams meant by “spiritual sequel”. 10 Cloverfield Lane doesn’t illuminate anything more about the original Cloverfield film, nor does it necessarily even occupy the same universe as the original, but I, for one, certainly left the cinema feeling exactly the same way – fairly shaken by the thought of being caught in the middle of an apocalypse.

The characters in this film feel so real that even though the premise lies on the world around us being decimated, you really feel as though you are part of the same world. A lot of that realism comes down to the acting of the leads in the film. Goodman’s acting especially is quite unlike what I’ve seen of his previous work. It is sort of an amalgamation of the characters he’s known to play – goofy dad-like, long-faced, darkly intense – all coming together to create a puzzling character that we spend the whole film trying to decode.

As a whole, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a fun and really surprisingly good film that’s simply a blast to watch. It’s a refreshing shift from a lot of the mainstream blockbusters filling up our cinema screens now, and one that I can definitely see myself going back to watch more than a few times.

Director: Dan Tractenberg

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher, Jr.

Running Time: 106 minutes