Review of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) by Arth J — 21 Nov 2018

Compelling and generous, if sinister..

10 Cloverfield Lane.

Trachtenberg's smart horror drama is compelling and generous, if sinister. As it was in previous installment, this franchise thrives on the uncertrainity aspect of it. And this is something that Trachtenberg has extracted that piece of Reeves's idea and foliated it into a thrilling ride that gives you the chills of a free falling roller coaster. And just like that experience the characters in here too are not in control of their life. It puts three chess pieces on the board that is trapped with spooky things, on that note this is a challenging plot to pull off.

And even though it circles back to the origin, the middle section, the root, the core of the feature is what's genuinely inspiring. It somehow resembles with Garland's Ex Machina, since the politics it plays with the characters that it fiddles like puppets, is a nail-biting intense drama. There is also a bit of ease on the narration and even though it is confined in basically a room, it definitely expands its idea beyond that. Elizabeth Winstead; the protagonist, lives up to her character with her convincing portrayal of a scared and a lost girl trying to figure out her environment.

But the character to look up to, is Goodman, his stellar performance of a complex and more importantly three dimensional survivor is worth hoping in on this ride. His ideologies are drawn from the war he has seen and tactics challenging to its current generation, a masterstroke by the writers. Ticking for around hundred minutes, it fluctuates a lot from being grounded and practical to being profoundly mediocre and amateur. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a win-win for the writers to live up to its franchise hype, but in terms of horror it falls short handed at times.