Film Review: ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ is a Dull Detour to a Dead End

CHICAGO – With “10 Cloverfield Lane,” Producer J.J. Abrams attempts a classic bait and switch on his audience. The name and the tagline suggest a connection to Abrams found footage monster movie, 2008’s “Cloverfield.” But in all honesty, this film has very little to do with the events of that movie.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

It’s actually an old low budget thriller that’s been hastily repackaged and shrouded in secrecy as a marketing ploy. Because if you called this movie “2 Guys, a Girl and a Bomb Shelter” very few people would actually go see it.

The film is more mystery than special effects extravaganza as the audience and the characters try to decipher what exactly is true and what isn’t. After a car accident, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up chained to a wall in a bomb shelter – containing Howard (John Goodman) and a slightly dopey handyman named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.). Howard pulled Michelle from the wreck, and brought her to his bunker. She’s told there’s been an apocalyptic attack and the world outside the bomb shelter has been destroyed and made uninhabitable, but she quite understandably has her doubts.

”10 Cloverfield Lane” opens everywhere on March 11th. Featuring John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr.. Screenplay by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. Rated “PG-13”