For a movie whose very existence was a secret until two
months ago, “10 Cloverfield Lane” has a lot of
expectations to live up to. Before a trailer for the quasi sequel to the 2008
found-footage monster flick, “Cloverfield,” popped up
in January — seemingly out of nowhere — no one had a clue the film existed.
And that’s
for one very good reason: for most of its production, the film was just an
unassuming thriller by the name of “Valencia” (or “The Cellar” depending on
which stage of production we’re talking), and it wasn’t until late in the game
that it was absorbed into the “Cloverfield” universe.
Leading up
to the release, director Dan Trachtenberg and producer J.J. Abrams kept mum on
exactly what the connection between the films would be, calling the film a
“blood relative” to its predecessor. Though “Cloverfield’s”
director (Matt Reeves) and writer (Drew Goddard) were on as producers, the
tethers to that film appeared to be more along the lines of spirit and tone
than any direct plot elements.
In the
film’s wordless opening sequence, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead),
a young woman from Louisiana, hastily packs a suitcase and rushes out of her
apartment, leaving behind an engagement ring but grabbing a bottle of Scotch.
Her flight is cut short by a serious car accident, after which she wakes up
chained to the wall of an underground cement bunker. Her captor, Howard (John
Goodman), informs her that a cataclysmic event has taken place which has left
the outside world uninhabitable. Luckily, he found her and rescued her,
bringing her to the shelter he’s had built for just such an occasion.
Michelle’s
dubious of Howard’s claims, but a third resident of the bunker, a young man
named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), backs up his story. It will be at least year
or two years before it’s safe to return to the surface, but at least they’re
prepared: the bunker is stocked with plenty of food, a kick-ass jukebox and
shelves of movies to watch — from “Pretty in Pink” to “Cannibal Airline” (a
fictional title, but man, is it one I want to see).
Sure, you
can look at “10 Cloverfield Lane” as simply a cynical
attempt to retrofit a modest little thriller onto a franchise to which it has
little connection. It’s a clear way to bring the film to the attention of a lot
more people, and hopefully ensure that the film will be that much more
profitable. But in a way, what Abrams and company are attempting appears to be
similar to what John Carpenter had hoped to do with the “Halloween” franchise:
creating an anthology of films loosely connected by general theme (nevermind that Carpenter made the second film in this
series a direct sequel to the first, thus thoroughly perplexing audiences when
the third film inexplicably veered off in an entirely new direction). But in
this case, the gambit seems to be working this time around.
Nerve-jangling
tense and claustrophobic, “10 Cloverfield Lane” is
expertly crafted by Trachtenberg. Even if the film’s final act isn’t quite as
strong as what’s come before (and to be fair, it’d be hard for anything to live
up to that), I admired its audacity.
For the
majority of its running time, the film resembles a three-person play, with Winstead, Goodman, and Gallagher Jr. the only performers on
screen, and they’re all operating at the top of their game. The considerable
tension comes from how these characters play off one another. Winstead gets to flex her dramatic skills in addition to
her chops as an action hero, conveying Michelle’s intelligence and
resourcefulness. Her eyes are constantly alert, darting around and taking in
every detail around her, so we buy it when she puts those details to good use.
She’s constantly sizing Howard up, attempting to determine exactly how much of
a threat he poses.
The
inventive sound design constantly keeps us on edge; as suspicion set in, every
noise seems to be heightened — from doors banging open or closed, to the clink
of a glass bottle hitting the table. Composer Bear McCreary’s frantic
orchestral score adds to the suspense, making great use of some Bernard
Hermann-esque strings.
Gallagher
Jr. turns the sweetly naive Emmett into a compelling character. But John
Goodman’s performance is a thing of beauty. From his time on “Roseanne” to his
frequent work with the Coen brothers, Goodman has always been equally skilled
at projecting a sweet-natured goodness as well as alarming menace. He’s a big
guy, and knows how to use his size to intimidate.
Writers Josh
Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle have
given him a great, complicated character to play; there’s a scene centered around a game of Taboo that provides some fascinating and
unexpected insight into Howard’s psychological makeup. Pride, anger, and
paranoia mix together in the body of a man who seems to have spent his time
rooting for doomsday to arrive. He’s the franchise’s scariest creation.
This article appears in Mar 16-22, 2016.
