10 Cloverfield Lane
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- Release Date: March 11, 2016
- Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg
- Written by: Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken and Damien Chazelle
- Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
- Series: Cloverfield
Ever since I first saw Cloverfield in 2008, I waited and waited for a sequel. I can remember looking at fan posters for Cloverfield 2 back in 2010, and reading how some people were thinking that Super 8 would end up being connected to it, too. Eventually, I gave up as the years went on. That is, until my senior year of high school, when the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane dropped completely out of nowhere. I was shocked!
While this movie isn't a straightforward sequel to Cloverfield, it's very strong in its own right. Instead of a giant monster attacking the city, this movie follows a paranoid scientist as he holds a woman and another man hostage in a bunker, while claiming that an alien invasion is occuring outside. Because almost the entire movie takes place in this bunker, there is a thick feeling of claustrophobia running throughout that rarely lets up. John Goodman plays his role of the scientest, and his performance here is chilling. He seems completely crazy to everyone in the story, yet is so sincere that what he's doing is the right thing. Is this guy just insane and holding these two people prisoner, or are there actually aliens coming down from the sky out there? I don't want to give too many details away on why he does what he does, but there were a couple of moments that made my mouth drop open in the theater. He has this evil-eyed stare that is so menacing. I love seeing an actor who normally does lighthearted roles take on something way more serious.
In terms of scares, I find 10 Cloverfield Lane to be more tense and suspenseful than the first film. The ending may turn some people off of this one, but I think it's a very satisfying "sequel", even if it's really just in name only. It doesn't have as much originality as the first one, but it's tense enough to make a statement of its own in this all-over-the-place series.