In a year where Hollywood seems determined to prove that more is more — more superheroes per film, more explosions, more garish special effects — the economically directed and scripted 10 Cloverfield Lane is a rare pleasure. It’s an unassuming genre film that squeezes more real thrills out of its modest US$15m budget than many films made for 10 times as much.
Related only tangentially to the JJ Abrams-produced monster film, Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a promising feature debut for Dan Trachtenberg. Trachtenberg, best known for his short film based on the videogame Portal, restricts the action mostly to three characters and the claustrophobic confines of an underground bunker prepared for Armageddon.
Michelle (scream queen Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a young woman who has just ditched her boyfriend, wakes up chained to a concrete wall after a road accident in rural Louisiana. Her creepy captor, Howard (an excellent John Goodman), tells her that everyone in the outside world was killed in a chemical attack that has made the air unbreathable. He insists that he has saved her rather than abducted her by bringing her to live in his underground bunker.
Emmett (John Gallagher Jr), another survivor hunkered down in the bunker, backs the story spun by their conspiracy-obsessed, survivalist host. Still, the questions remain: why lock Michelle up on her own? And what sort of weirdo has a fallout shelter in his backyard — complete with a library of VHS films, board games, a jukebox and ample food — just in case civilisation collapses?
10 Cloverfield Lane is best viewed without reading any reviews or seeing some of the spoiler-heavy trailers. The setup is simple but Trachtenberg cannily keeps you guessing about the characters’ motives and what is really happening outside Howard’s lair. He ratchets up the suspense gently, focusing as much on his characters as on the action.
Strong performances from all three leads anchor the film. Goodman adds yet another memorable performance to his filmography, as unnerving here as he was in Barton Fink all those years back. There are moments where he sells you on the idea that Howard is a good-natured if paranoid Navy veteran, and others where he seems close to raging psychosis. That ambiguity sets up a taut second act as Howard’s true motives start to come into focus.
Winstead’s resourceful, gutsy Michelle is an able adversary for Howard, uncertain whether the ground above the bunker is safe but equally unsure whether Howard’s intentions are benign. Either way, she’s determined not be a victim. In between the two is Emmet, a soft-spoken and genial local who helped Howard to build his doomsday bunker.
10 Cloverfield Lane is based on a script that initially had nothing to do with the Cloverfield mythos, but it is so much better than it should be as an exercise in canny marketing and brand extension from JJ Abrams and his Bad Robot production company. With its careful pacing — the escalating tension punctuated by pitch-black humour and shocking violence (though the gore is moderated for a PG rating) — it offers two riveting hours of entertainment. It’s nothing groundbreaking, just an unpretentious little thriller made with great attention to film craft. What a thought in today’s era of cinematic excess! — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
