Wifey was out this morning and normally Saturday morning would be SoccerAM time but recently, well for some time I have fallen out of love with the show. So I fished around for something else to watch and found a film showing for the first time on Sky Premier Movies.
I like to think I have my ear to the ground when it comes to films but somehow this film ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ (2016), past me by and I had no idea what I was just about to watch but for the small bio that comes with the film.
The film opens with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) fleeing New Orleans and a broken relationship. It’s an almost wordless sequence, punctuated only by her ex-boyfriend pleading with her on speakerphone as she drives into the Louisiana night. Involved in a crash and wakes up in a sparse room, a drip in her arm, but manacled to a pipe. Alive, but a prisoner.
It’s here we meet Howard (John Goodman), the man who pulled her from the wreck, but is now her captor. “I’m sorry, but no-one is looking for you,” as she bargains for her release, delaying his reveal of what he claims is really going on: the country's been attacked by enemies unknown, but they’re safe in the bunker. That information comes later, after an escape attempt.
Things pick up immediately as the bunker’s third inhabitant, Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) is introduced — is Howard telling the truth (as the evidence initially suggests), or is something more sinister going on? From this point, we learn things as Michelle does, and her fear and uncertainty are projected onto us. The best she can hope for is that Howard is a good man, just not particularly normal. But as time passes, and she picks up snippets of information, it becomes clear there’s a darkness in his past that threatens what she’s been led to believe and Emmett sees it too.
Howard tells Michelle about his daughter, who is gone. Michelle and Emmett eventually detect inconsistencies in his story, including that the picture of his daughter is actually a girl who went missing two years before. They suspect Howard abducted and murdered her, and secretly begin fashioning a makeshift biohazard suits for an escape outside.
Discovering they used his tools, Howard angrily asks them why. Emmett takes the blame; Howard shoots him in the head.
Michelle makes her escape bid and succeeds after kicking a large tub of acid over whereby Howard falls into the puddle and a fire starts. She gets outside in her homemade biohazard suit. Once outside which looks quite normal and seeing birds, flying takes off her helmet. However, in the distance she can see some kind of floating craft. When the bunker explodes, it attracts the craft's attention.
An alien creature then comes to investigate and the craft releases a green gas, forcing her to put the bio mask back on. She takes shelter in Howard's truck, but the craft’s tentacles pick it up and attempt
to consume her. She creates a Molotov cocktail and throws it, causing the craft to explode. Michelle drives off. On the radio, she hears about successful human resistance efforts. Survivors are directed to evacuate to the north, while those able to aid the fight are directed to Houston. Michelle resolutely heads for Houston, where lights and larger crafts loom.
The acting from everybody was superb, and the interactions between them felt very organic and believable. It was also fun to see a really smart, competent and badass female lead. I got Ripley-vibes from Mary Elizabeth Winstead towards the end, so I really hope the next movie picks up right after where this one ended, because I wanna see more of her survival journey.
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