10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (2016)

This suspense thriller directed by Dan Trachtenberg and produced by J.J. Abrams (LOST, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, STAR TREK) with a screenplay by Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken & Damien Chazelle, is an interesting film that leaves you guessing up to the end. However, without revealing too much, this in many ways is a companion piece to CLOVERFIELD, a film from J.J. Abrams about 8 years ago that also kept one guessing only to realize you were dealing with a Godzilla redux, albeit told (ie. BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) in a first person narrative through footage being recorded by the main characters on their cell phones. This film does not utilize this gimmick, but instead goes for a story that is a cross between ROOM, WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE DAY AFTER (the TV nuclear holocaust film from 1983). Though it’s well done with three of the best actors working today, I still felt that I’d seen this before in any of a number of TV movies and B-films through the years. One thing to its credit is that it did keep me guessing up to the end, though I found the conclusion a bit of a let down. Much credit needs to be given to John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. for doing an outstanding job with their roles. Hopefully in the future they will have a project perhaps a bit more worthy of their talents.