What's In A Name?

From time to time a film is released with the tagline 'presented or produced by' which is closely followed by the name of a big time Hollywood hitter. This is done to give the impression that said big hitter has played a part in the creative process of the film which is hoped will turn heads and bring in an audience that may not have given the film a second thought without the association. The truth however is that in the vast majority of cases the person named has had next to nothing to do with the production and are only allowing their name to be used as a favour to a friend or studio to which they are contracted.

In other instances a director will be incorrectly thought of as being behind the creation of a film when in fact they were once again only there as a producer. A good example of this would be J J Abrams who many believe was the creative force behind 2008's monster movie Cloverfield, when in fact the film was directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard. Abrams had made a name for himself as the creator of the television hits Alias and Lost so to have him on-board as a producer for your film was obviously going to put eyeballs on your project and make it seem a bigger deal than it may have been considered otherwise.

In the 8 years since Cloverfields release Abrams has become a real force in the world of movies as he has taken the reigns of both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises taking The Force Awakens to the heights of being the third highest grossing movie in cinematic history. He has also found time to put his name into the pot as a producer on the film 10 Cloverfield Lane which you would be forgiven for thinking he was heavily involved in bringing to the world. However it would be fair to say that Abrams is as linked to this film as the movie itself is linked to the original, the point being that in both cases the link is extremely tenuous.

Originally known as The Cellar, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a psychological thriller which had about as much to do with the 2008 monster smash as Spice World the Movie has in common with Citizen Kane. After a few years in development however The Cellar ended up in the hands of Abrams Bad Robot production company and from there it was given the codename Valencia in order to throw people off the scent of what the film was to become.

So to the plot of the so called spiritual successor to Cloverfield. We begin by meeting Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who we learn is having relationship issues and so has decided to skip town and leave her man behind. Whilst on the road she hears on the car radio that many cities are suffering blackouts, she is then distracted by a call from her boyfriend which leads to her being involved in a traffic accident. When she comes too Michelle discovers that she is chained to the wall in an strange room at an undisclosed location. We soon discover that she has been taken there by Howard Stambler (played brilliantly by John Goodman) who tells her that he has brought her to her bunker for her own safety. You see according to Howard there has been some sort of attack on the United States though he doesn't know whether it was the Russians or aliens. All he does know is that the attack was chemical in nature and therefore it is not safe to go outside.

After a period of time Michelle is allowed out of her room and meets Emmett (John Gallagher) who was a neighbour of Howards who had come to the bunker voluntarily after seeing the flash from one of the strikes from the attacks. Unconvinced by the claims of the two Michelle eventually makes abreak for freedom but before unlocking the door to the outside a woman bangs on the glass demanding to be let in. She clearly has something wrong with her however which finally convinces Michelle that maybe Howard is telling the truth.

This leads us to a period in the film where the three get along having come to terms with the fact that they will only have each other for company for the foreseeable future. This is until Michelle and Emmett come to the realisation that Howard has at some point kidnapped a young woman and kept her in the bunker before eventually killing her. This leads them to the decision that they have to make a break for it and see whats happening outside the bunker as despite Howard appearing to be right about a chemical attack they cannot overlook the fact that they are living with a liar and murderer to boot.

Unfortunately Howard uncovers their scheming and Emmett takes full responsibility which leads to Howard shooting him dead before dissolving the body in a barrel of acid (remember this as its going to be important later). Now more desperate than ever Michelle ploughs on with her plan and ends up in a confrontation with Howard which sees him land face first in a puddle of the acid from the barrel which has been overturned. The fight continues until Michelle finally escapes the bunker whilst wearing a homemade hazmat suit, an escape that comes just in the nick of time as the bunker which had caught fire explodes.

It is at this point that the film that things go south and what had been to this point a very good film loses the plot (literally and figuratively) becoming something that quite frankly is dumb and just does not work. You see Michelle is confronted by the fact that Howard was at least 50% right in his assumptions as to what had gone on outside the bunker. It turns out that the air is in actual fact fine to breathe but that there had indeed been an attack, not by the Russians however, oh no this was an attack by an alien invasion. Yep thats right, a film that has spent an hour or more building tension and ramping up the drama as our two heroes try to save themselves from the clutches of a madman culminates in an absolutely ridiculous final act which sees Michelle blow up an alien ship using a molotov cocktail that she conveniently throws together as the ship tries to swallow her and the car that she is hiding in. She then drives away from the scene before hearing over the radio that survivors of the attack can head to Baton Rouge for refuge or to Houston to join the resistance as mankind takes up arms to battle the alien menace. The film fades to black as Michelle takes the heroic decision to head for Huston as lightening flashes across the sky showing an even bigger alien ship in the distance.

So how do you rate a film like 10 Cloverfield Lane? It is most definately a film of two parts. The first (and best) part of the film is a great thriller with terrific performances by all three of the actors involved. The story is tightly woven and as a viewer you get a real sense of the claustrophobia of the situation they find themselves in. You also feel invested in Michelles escape plan as she realises the truth about the man who claims to be her saviour but from the moment her frantic escape begins the film begins to unravel. The fight between Michelle and Howard is OK but comes off a little hokey compared to what has come before it.

Then we get to the second part of the film in which we discover the truth of what has been going on outside and Michelle becomes Ripley as she battles the alien menace. Now I don't know what the ending to The Cellar was supposed to be but I feel pretty confident in my assertion that it highly likely had absolutely nothing to do with an alien invasion and this is where the real problem lies with this movie. You see it is clear that once Bad Robot got their hands on this film that they wanted it to in some way connect to their earlier Cloverfield movie and so by hook or by crook they crowbarred in a connection by tacking on an ending which fails to work on any level whatsoever. The whole alien angle comes out of nowhere and smacks the viewer around the face with a sign that reads LOOK ITS A CLOVERFIELD SEQUEL, hoping that we will just accept the turn of events as presented without asking just what the hell they were thinking.

Now fans of the original may accept this film as a sequel but anyone expecting another monster movie is going to be sorely disappointed as this is connected to the 2008 Cloverfield pretty much in name alone. As for those who weren't keen on the first Cloverfield (myself included) will be entertained by the parts of this film that were The Cellar but like me will come away confused as to what the hell an ending like that is doing following two acts of greatness.

I of course score all the films I review out of 10 and not for the first time I find myself having to give two scores. The first is for The Cellar which is highly deserving of an 8 out of 10. The second score is for the mess of a third act which serves no purpose other than to try to put asses in seats by loosely tying the film to what has come before and of course opening the franchise up to being a trilogy and for this part I feel obligated to give a score of 4 out of 10. Now this is not because it is badly shot or acted in any way its simply because I personally feel that this act had no place being attached to the opening two thirds and in my opinion it ruins what was a very good film.

Overall then we give 10 Cloverfield Lane an average score of 6 out of 10. I just wish I had the opportunity to watch the film in its original incarnation as the film they have delivered just leaves me feeling short changed.