Bunker Down

Cloverfield, the 2008 found-footage monster movie from JJ Abrams, was a pretty moderate success when it theaters.  Imaginative writing, a fairly novel (at the time) concept, and some fun performances from young actors combined to make that movie a surprising treat. Entertaining though it was, I'm not sure that it clamored for a sequel.  Regardless, it got one in the form of 10 Cloverfield Lane.  Set in the same cinematic universe--a phrase that's more necessarily useful than poetically descriptive--this movie plays with ideas far afield from those of it's predecessor and this willingness to experiment, rather than copy, makes 10 Cloverfield Lane a success. If we are indeed set upon the idea that every movie that makes any sort of noise at the box office deserves a sequel, this is the way to do it. Set around the same time as the first film, this movie concerns a girl, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who wrecks her car in rural Louisiana.  When she wakes up, she finds herself chained to a wall in a concrete bunker with an IV in her arm.  After struggling and attempting to call for help, she meets her captor, a man by the name of Howard (John Goodman).  He explains to her that "something" has happened, that the air outside is not safe to breathe, and that they and a younger guy named Emmet (John Gallagher, Jr.) are trapped inside this bunker for the foreseeable future. Michelle, of course, does not believe him and attempts to escape.  Thankfully, for the audience more than the characters, things are not at all cut and dry.  Something IS wrong outside and, as crazy as Howard seems, he doesn't seem to be lying about his reasons for locking them all up.  It's hard to describe the rest of the film without spoiling anything, so I won't.  It's great news too that, assuming you've seen the trailer, everything in the trailers occurs in the first third of the movie.  Unlike some other soon-to-be-released movies, 10 Cloverfield Lane did a great job saving itself from it's marketing campaign and the suspense you feel in the latter half of the movie is a good indicator of that. The suspense and tension in the film is due mostly to the great performance by Winstead and Goodman.  John Goodman is a national treasure folks and we need to see him every chance we get.  His performance as Howard is equal parts frightening, creepy, humorous and melancholy and Goodman gives the role much more depth than was required. Winstead is great too, turning herself into a heroic half Jessica Fletcher, half MacGyver amalgam.  She's more than a match for Goodman's character which really ratchets up the suspense in the second half of the movie. What makes the suspense and action even better in this movie is that, given what it's evolving from, it is the perfect metaphor for genre sequels.  The movie deals with someone trapped inside a bunker and having to use a diverse set of tools and items to craft a way out of the situation forced upon them.  In this age of endless, unnecessary sequels, that's a great analogy of how to make a good genre sequel.  10 Cloverfield Lane, playing with the rules and devices set forth by Cloverfield, takes those pieces and instead of building a replica, builds a whole new edifice.  Where they could have been derivative and lazy, the writers and director Dan Trachtenberg instead crafted an engaging thriller.  This is, in my opinion, how a whole lot more genre sequels ought to be treated. Why rehash the same story, the same characters, the same endless loops over and over when you could simply take the universal (no pun intended) parts of the property and construct something novel out of it? This construction, along with the acting, the suspenseful storytelling, and the style of the movie make it a winner.  When it's so easy to be lazy and to shill out carbon copies of existing movies, comic books, or board games, it really stands out when a group of people come together and make something so genuine feeling.  10 Cloverfield Lane may be dressed up as a sci-fi movie, and it certainly has those elements.  At its heart, though, is a thriller and a mystery that is engaging and fun and a movie that can stand alone even inside its "sequel" box.  These days that's really saying something.