Rawlins Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane

Starring: John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Review:

I’ll start this review off by saying that I didn’t like the original Cloverfield movie. I can’t stand “found footage” movies. I just don’t like them. Any of them. However, 10 Cloverfield Lane isn’t a “found footage” movie so I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m glad I did because it was a pretty great movie. It was like Don’t Breathe without the blind guy. 10 Cloverfield Lane has officially passed up House at the End of the Street on my list of favorite movies about women in white tank tops being abducted by crazy men to fill an empty female role in their lives. Mary Elizabeth Winstead gave a great performance as the scared but feisty Michelle and John Goodman was menacingly unpredictable in his role. The pacing and suspense were great. The movie never seemed to drag on and was just as long as it needed to be. I also liked how they didn’t bog the viewer down with too many references from the original movie. Sometimes those are too on-the-nose and can get annoying. This movie would have been just as good were it a standalone abduction movie. It did leave a lot of questions unanswered, though, but in the end I guess those questions didn’t really matter. The whole movie was tense and uncomfortable and that’s what made it great.

What I Would’ve Changed:

I’m not a huge fan of alien movies but I think their cameo was fine. I wouldn’t have made it as long, though, even though the whole thing was probably a setup for a possible sequel. I would have had her escape, see the alien ship, and then end the movie.

Verdict:

Definitely a movie worth seeing. I’d probably even buy it.

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