10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), All You Want To Know & Watch About A Great Movie
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
A young woman is held in an underground bunker by a man who insists that a hostile event has left the surface of the Earth uninhabitable.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a 2016 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle.
The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr. The story follows a young woman who, after a car crash, wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who insist that an event has left the surface of Earth uninhabitable.
The film was developed from a script titled The Cellar; but under production by Bad Robot, it was turned into a spiritual successor to the 2008 film Cloverfield. It is presented in a third-person narrative, in contrast to its predecessor’s found-footage style. Principal photography took place under the title Valencia in New Orleans, Louisiana, from October 20 to December 15, 2014.
10 Cloverfield Lane premiered in New York City on March 8, 2016, and was released in select countries on March 10. It was released in the United States on March 11, 2016, in both conventional and IMAX formats. The film grossed over $110 million worldwide. A successor, The Cloverfield Paradox, was released on February 4, 2018.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Trailer
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Reviews
It’s almost like a spin-off from that film, imagining a different story taking place in a different part of the world but in the same universe. Whereas that movie jumped on a current trend in its approach (found footage), Dan Trachtenberg’s film feels much more old-fashioned in its style, recalling genre pictures of the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Trachtenberg and his team don’t explore some of the film’s potential themes as deeply as I hoped they would and it’s less visually engaging than it could have been. But this is rock-solid entertainment, a film meant to keep you guessing and jumping for 100 minutes before it throws you back into the world to argue about its ending.
There’s been an “event” outside, and he grabbed Michelle just in time to get her into the bunker he built for just such an occasion. It could be the Russians, the North Koreans or the Martians—but, whatever it is, the air probably won’t be breathable for one or two years. And isn’t Michelle lucky that they have enough food, filtered air, and other supplies in this doomsday prepper’s bunker to wait it out?
They’re not alone. Just before Howard closed the door, a neighbor named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) barged his way in as well. Emmett, who has seen Howard building this bunker for just such an occasion, confirms enough of what Howard says that Michelle starts to believe.
Well-played by the “Short Term 12” star, Emmett becomes a pivot point for the film, alternating between encouraging Michelle’s fears and affirming that Howard is, at least in part, who he says he is. And when she sees something horrible after an aborted escape attempt, she resigns herself to the idea that these two men will be the last human beings she ever sees. But something’s not right with Howard.
He’s controlling to an uncomfortable level, especially when it comes to the dynamic between Michelle and Emmett. There’s a fantastic scene of game-playing in which Howard’s misogyny is laid on the table, and the film keeps us guessing as to just what his intentions or end game will be.
We only know what she knows, so she has to be our conduit to the film, responding to each new hurdle and conflict as we would.
The final half-hour of “10 Cloverfield Lane” is pretty much going to dominate the conversation around the film. Without spoiling anything, it’s a series of events in which Michelle finds new challenges around every corner (that would only be a spoiler if you’ve never seen a thriller).
While I’m not sure it’s as narratively sound as it could have been—and one can see the retrofitting of the traditional thriller into the sci-fi universe—Winstead and the filmmakers keep it working through sheer confidence. Like the opening scenes of the film, the final act is largely dialogue-free.
There’s none of that character-talking-to-herself nonsense you see in lesser films that aren’t as sure of themselves when it comes to visual storytelling. So many movies hold your hand as you go over every hill on the rollercoaster. When it gets to its finale “10 Cloverfield Lane” wants you to throw both hands in the air and scream.
- Brian Tallerico – Roger Ebert
- Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Credits
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
105 minutes
Cast
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle
John Goodman as Howard
John Gallagher Jr. as Emmett
Director
- Dan Trachtenberg
Writer (story)
- Josh Campbell
- Matthew Stuecken
Writer
- Josh Campbell
- Matthew Stuecken
- Damien Chazelle
Cinematographer
- Jeff Cutter
Editor
- Stefan Grube
Composer
- Bear McCreary
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Plot
After an argument with her boyfriend Ben, Michelle hurriedly packs a suitcase, leaves behind a diamond ring, and departs New Orleans. While driving through rural Louisiana at night Ben calls, begging her to return. The news reports of blackouts in several major cities. Her car is suddenly struck and flips off the road.
Awakening in a concrete room, Michelle finds she has an injured leg and is chained to the wall. A man named Howard enters and unchains her. She later unsuccessfully ambushes him, and he explains that there has been a massive attack, perhaps by Russians or Martians, and he had found her wreck and saved her life by bringing her to his underground bunker.
He tells a doubtful Michelle that they cannot leave for one or two years because the air is poisoned and everyone outside is dead.
Howard takes Michelle on a tour of the well-stocked bunker he built, which houses a third resident, Emmett, whose left arm is in a sling. Through a viewport, Howard shows her his two decayed pigs outside as evidence of the fallout, but she also sees Howard’s truck, and regains the memory of it forcing her off the road.
She privately relays this to Emmett, who dismisses it. He says he came to the bunker voluntarily, which he had helped Howard build, after actually seeing the attack happen and injuring his arm while fighting his way inside.
During their first dinner together, Howard shows little tolerance for Emmett and flashes of jealousy and rage. Michelle antagonizes him and steals his keys, but just before she opens the outer door a woman covered with lesions appears, screaming to be let inside.
Horrified, Michelle retreats back. Howard confesses he accidentally struck Michelle’s car while in a panic to get to the bunker. She uses her fashion design skills to stitch the cut she caused on his forehead, and Howard opens up about his daughter.
The trio begins to adapt to life underground. The air ventilation system fails after something loud passes overhead, and Howard sends Michelle through a small duct to turn it back on. In the mechanical room, she finds a padlocked skylight with “HELP” scratched on the inside and an earring she had seen in a picture Howard showed her of his daughter.
She shares this with Emmett, who recognizes the girl in the picture as a local girl who had gone missing two years earlier. They decide to seek help and Michelle begins to fashion a makeshift hazmat suit so one of them can go outside.
Howard finds some of the hidden tools Michelle and Emmett are using for their plan and threatens to immerse them both in perchloric acid. Emmett takes responsibility, claiming he was building a weapon to use to get Howard’s gun and impress Michelle. Howard accepts Emmett’s apology before shooting him in the head, telling a shocked Michelle that now they can be a family of two.
While Howard cleans up, Michelle works to finish the suit. He discovers the suit, but she flees and is able to upend the barrel of acid onto him, which disfigures him and starts a fire. She dons the suit and narrowly escapes outside. When she sees birds overhead, she removes her gas mask, but then observes an alien biomechanical craft floating in the distance.
When the bunker explodes, the craft turns in her direction and drops off a quadrupedal creature. Michelle shelters in Howard’s truck from the creature and from a flammable green gas the craft emits. The craft’s tentacles draw the truck toward its maw, but Michelle finds materials for a Molotov cocktail and destroys it.
Michelle drives off. A radio broadcast says there has been some success in the fight against the invaders and instructs survivors to seek safety in Baton Rouge, but also requests the help of anyone with medical or combat training in Houston. Michelle heads for Houston while a larger alien craft is revealed by lightning.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Box office
10 Cloverfield Lane grossed $72.2 million in the United States and $38.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $110.2 million.[5]
In the United States and Canada, the film made $1.8 million from its Thursday night previews at 2,500 theaters,and $8 million on its first day (including Thursday previews).[42] In its opening weekend, it earned $24.7 million, finishing in second place at the box office behind Zootopia ($51.3 million), which was in its second weekend.[43]
Outside North America, 10 Cloverfield Lane received a staggered release,[44] across 54 countries.[45] It earned $1.5 million in its opening weekend from six international markets with a bulk of it coming from Australia ($1 million).[44] Overall, the top openings were in the United Kingdom and Ireland ($2.2 million), South Korea ($1.7 million), and France ($1.4 million).
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 312 critic reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “Smart, solidly crafted, and palpably tense, 10 Cloverfield Lane makes the most of its confined setting and outstanding cast—and suggests a new frontier for franchise filmmaking.”
According to Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 43 critics, the film received “generally favorable reviews”.[49] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B−” on an A+ to F scale.[50]
Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times gave 10 Cloverfield Lane four stars out of four, commending the film as “continually gripping and extremely engrossing … [Dan Trachtenberg] helmed this film with artistry, imagination and skillful precision.”
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times praised the cast’s performance and Jeff Cutter’s cinematography, while writing: “Sneakily tweaking our fears of terrorism, ’10 Cloverfield Lane,’ though no more than a kissing cousin to its namesake, is smartly chilling and finally spectacular. A sequel is virtually a given.”
Alan Scherstuhl of the Village Voice also praised the acting and technical aspects, but wrote that the film “is less compelling in terms of character and meaning.”[53]
In a mixed review for Slant, Chuck Bowen found a lack of character development between the three leads, and labeled the film’s ending as anticlimactic. Bowen also writes: “The film hits its expositional narrative marks and nothing else … 10 Cloverfield Lane will almost immediately evaporate from the mind, before J.J. Abrams commences in selling you the same thing all over again.”
Soren Andersen of the Seattle Times, who gave 10 Cloverfield Lane one and half stars out of four, similarly criticized the film’s ending, labeling it as “full-bore” and “Too little. Too late.”[55] James Verniere of the Boston Herald disapproved of the characters and pacing, and he ultimately described the film as “a crummy, low-rent, intellectually bereft thriller.”
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Accolades
| Association | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bram Stoker Awards | Superior Achievement in a Screenplay | Josh Campbell, Damien Chazelle and Matthew Stuecken | Nominated | |
| Critics’ Choice Awards | Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Nominated | |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film | Dan Trachtenberg | Nominated | |
| Empire Awards | Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Nominated | |
| Fangoria Chainsaw Awards | Best Film | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Nominated | |
| Best Actor | John Goodman | Won | ||
| Golden Tomato Awards | Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie 2016 | 10 Cloverfield Lane | 2nd Place | |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | Best Original Score – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | Bear McCreary | Nominated | |
| IndieWire Critics Poll | Best Supporting Actor | John Goodman | 10th Place | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Thriller Film | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Won | |
| Best Actress | Mary Elizabeth Winstead | Won | ||
| Best Supporting Actor | John Goodman | Won | ||
| Best Editing | Stefan Grube | Nominated | ||
| St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association | Best Horror/Science-Fiction Film | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Nominated | |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Drama | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Nominated |
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Movie Info
WATCH 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Pictures
For more articles:
——————————————————————————————-
FOLLOW US
Cinema Drama News Turkish Drama Lebanon 4 Seasons Lebanon Magazine The Magazine