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[Replicant]

I like the film.

Thematically it works since Michelle has always run away whenever there's problem in her life. At the end, despite the impossibility of the task that awaits her, she chose to confront whatever lies ahead.

Also, Bradley Cooper must be one of the easiest actors to work with in Hollywood. He does his Academy Award films but also happy to star in Blockbuster films, voice a talking Racoon, appearing as recurring character in a TV series, and now, getting his voice used for a character that doesn't even show up in the film.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

So, I'm still having a hard time believing, with the fact that Howard works for Tagurato, that this movie has no connection to the original CF. So, I came up with my own head-canon.

1. Many millions of years ago, aliens drop off Clover onto the Earth for some as of yet unknown reason.

2. Tagurato satellite crashes.

3. Clover wakes up.

4. Power is cut all across the eastern seaboard, including NYC.

5. Clover makes landfall in NY

6. Clover, somehow, makes intergalactic communication with his friends (since the aliens seem to have some sort of biomechanical feature, maybe some sort of tracking device, not sure)

7. A few days after Clover and the military destroy NYC, the alien ships, which are actually other Clover monsters in carriers (hence why they look like Clover), begin their attack.

So yeah.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

The movie is on track for $30 million this weekend...and a B- Cinemascore.

I feel like putting Cloverfield in the title sure tricked a lot of people into seeing a microbudget chamber drama, and the cinemascore reflects what, uh, "normal" people think.

Then again they gave a B- to Fury Road, so fuck the public

For comparison, The Gift, last year's sneakily good horror chamber drama starring three people of various Hollywood star power with a budget of $5 million dollars, only did $11 million its first weekend.

 

[Phreakuency]

I don't think people were 'tricked'. Especially given so many people here claimed the original movie was a heap of shit (even though it was great).

I also think the actors would have drawn crowds regardless of the films title.

Likewise, the great trailer.

 

[Emarv]

Totally forgot about the "ask him about space worms" line. That's pretty good.

 

[jack_package_200]

I don't think they were tricked. They just weren't paying attention.

JJ, Dan, and everyone involved have said that it wasn't a sequel or even directly related to the first film. Reviews have said as much as well.

 

[Emarv]

JJ Abrams and others have said that the two movies are connected a few times now. Here's the latest one.

This is great and different than what I expected.

I hope this ends up with some ridiculous Monster Island where all of these science fiction forces fight it out or something.

 

[Emarv]

They should have just had her walk outside to something like this

Credits

I don't know why she had to firebomb an alien or choose whether to fight the aliens when we don't know anything about the aliens.

This seems to be a pretty common response, maybe because Cloverfield's ending was bleak or modern audiences like bleak, ambiguous endings?

I just think it's the wrong ending for this movie. Michelle goes through so much and fights to a point in her character that I think the final choice (while on the nose) is cathartic and badass. It's a dope, sweet, hopeful ending to a movie mostly featuring captivity, hopelessness and death.

 

[Defect]

They should have just had her walk outside to something like this

Credits

I don't know why she had to firebomb an alien or choose whether to fight the aliens when we don't know anything about the aliens.

That would've been a really boring ending. The whole movie is about the aliens and they even foreshadow it a few times with what Howard and Emmett says. At one point they're even watching a movie called Cannibal Airlines.

I don't like how she Tom Cruise'd the ship though.

 

[The Wraith]

I don't know how anyone else feels about John Goodmans performance but he put on an absolute clinic. In my opinion his best performance ever. Anytime he was on screen his presence was felt. I loved the movie from beginning to end. I would love to see humanity kick the shit out of some aliens in future Cloverfield movies.

 

[oc]

That would've been a really boring ending. The whole movie is about the aliens and they even foreshadow it a few times with what Howard and Emmett says. At one point they're even watching a movie called Cannibal Airlines.

I don't like how she Tom Cruise'd the ship though.

Well she spent the whole movie figuring out ways to escape.. She made a suit and mask out of duct tape, a shower curtain and a soda bottle.

The ships were clearly spitting out gas so its not an impossible scenario for this type of movie.

 

[Defect]

Well she spent the whole movie figuring out ways to escape.. She made a suit and mask out of duct tape, a shower curtain and a soda bottle.

The ships were clearly spitting out gas so its not an impossible scenario for this type of movie.

Im fine with her taking down a ship but it just looked too much like War of the Worlds

 

[Dominator]

Yeah, that gas inside the ship was flammable which she saw when it sprayed out the first time. That molotov would definitely kill the ship.

If someone didn't like her making that throw perfectly then I get that I guess, but I loved the hell out of it.

 

[Mzo]

The whole aliens part felt completely tacked on. Why didn't the blonde lady trapped outside start screaming about aliens? It was purposefully left ambiguous because the disaster up top didn't matter at all. Everything about the bunker was amazing but I hated everything after she left to become the one free man.

 

[Emarv]

The whole aliens part felt completely tacked on. Why didn't the blonde lady trapped outside start screaming about aliens? It was purposefully left ambiguous because the disaster up top didn't matter at all. Everything about the bunker was amazing but I hated everything after she left to become the one free man.

She did. She said something like "I'm fine. They barely touched me." Pretty sure the "they" was the aliens.

 

[Mzo]

I think "they" fits in well with my description of ambiguity. Could've been the Russkies or the South Koreans.

 

[Croc]

The whole aliens part felt completely tacked on. Why didn't the blonde lady trapped outside start screaming about aliens? It was purposefully left ambiguous because the disaster up top didn't matter at all. Everything about the bunker was amazing but I hated everything after she left to become the one free man.

Uh, it's left ambiguous because the whole point is not knowing. The point of the movie is the suspense of being in such a trapped space trying to figure out not only what the truth is but who is telling the truth. Telling you what's actually happening outside kind of defeats a huge point of the movie.

 

[Elitist1945]

Yeah, if they found out what actually happened above I doubt they'd be as willing to escape, they wouldn't have made the suit, Emmett wouldn't have died, etc.

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

They should have just had her walk outside to something like this

Credits

I don't know why she had to firebomb an alien or choose whether to fight the aliens when we don't know anything about the aliens.

No way, that would just be anticlimactic. I love how she got out, and everything was just seemingly fine. I loved that she (or myself) still couldnt tell if Howard was lying even when she got outside. I half expected a bunch of kids to find her, call her a crazy lady, and then credits.

 

[Astral]

I still don't know how I feel about the last act. It was such a tonal shift. It just went batshit crazy and badass out of nowhere. It felt too in your face. The slow burn reveal of the Cloverfield monster was a lot better and more terrifying. I think her fighting the ship was too much and they should have just left it at the dog and a silhouette of a ship. Overall, these aliens were underwhelming after the Cloverfield monster.

 

[dLMN8R]

Man I fucking loved this whole movie.

I loved the intro, especially the opening titles.

I loved the uncertainty about the entire situation the entire time. The inability to know whether you could trust Howard.

I loved the performances by all three main characters.

I loved the red herrings which made you not trust, then trust, then not trust Howard.

I loved the suspense, the tension, the direction.

I loved how even after you discover Howard is a psychopath, it still turns out he was right about everything.

I loved how the movie wasn't coy about the monsters and wasn't afraid to show them for longer, extended cuts.

I loved how Michelle was empowered, yet in a believable way.



I loved how I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going into it, and was constantly surprised by it the entire time from the opening moments to the very end.

 

[Mzo]

Uh, it's left ambiguous because the whole point is not knowing. The point of the movie is the suspense of being in such a trapped space trying to figure out not only what the truth is but who is telling the truth. Telling you what's actually happening outside kind of defeats a huge point of the movie.

I didn't want to know what was going on outside. What's going on outside is irrelevant aside from the fact that it keeps them trapped. I'm just saying that the aliens part felt tacked on and really different from the rest of the movie.

 

[Kibbles]

I like the film.

Thematically it works since Michelle has always run away whenever there's problem in her life. At the end, despite the impossibility of the task that awaits her, she chose to confront whatever lies ahead.

Also, Bradley Cooper must be one of the easiest actors to work with in Hollywood. He does his Academy Award films but also happy to star in Blockbuster films, voice a talking Racoon, appearing as recurring character in a TV series, and now, getting his voice used for a character that doesn't even show up in the film.

Wait Ben was Bradley? I'm surprised given how bad I thought the acting was in that scene. Huh.

 

[DiddyBop]

The one thing that really stood out was the sound design. From the booming sound effects to the tense soundtrack, this film excelled in that.

 

[Arkeband]

Anyone who didn't enjoy the bizarro ending is lame. I almost threw up my hands in the theater and screamed "YES" when she looked over the cornfield and a fucking hunter-killer is just hanging there.

The best part about this movie is that it had two parallel scenarios, one that there's a doomsday scenario and the other that you're stuck in the only safe area with a serial killer. There's no win scenario. And it played them both against each other perfectly.

I didn't particularly like how she Independence Day'd/War of the Worlds'd the spaceship, I feel like they could have written something else besides "oh look a convenient molotov cocktail, put that together in like literally 2 seconds", but whatever.

Amazing movie. Everything I wanted out of it. 10/10.

My guess was aliens when the title screen appeared and I realized that the first L in Cloverfield was ascending upwards to "something" when the "I" was descending down into the bunker. And then the constant references to Martians, space worms, etc.

I would love to see humanity kick the shit out of some aliens in future Cloverfield movies.

That's not what the Cloverfield IP is about.

So, I'm still having a hard time believing, with the fact that Howard works for Tagurato, that this movie has no connection to the original CF. So, I came up with my own head-canon.

There's no way that the two can have happened at the same time. Tagruato is like ACME in Looney Tunes, they are the singular link to every doomsday event, whether it's being invaded by aliens or waking up Kaiju, but each movie takes place in alternate realities.

 

[v1lla21]

I think I was the only one in the theater who laughed at the "pilgrimage to Waco" line.

 

[ultron87]

Hey, at least they set up Chekov's Booze Bottle from the very beginning.

 

[HiiiLife]

lol, what?

You probably missed a lot.

When you gotta go you gotta go. So. Dead daughter. Molotov alien. And more spaceships.

Sounds like 15-20 min worth.

 

[Sulik2]

John Goodman was as good as promised. Just a very tense movie through all the bunker stuff. Still not sure how I feel about the alien stuff at the end. I kind of like thematically that despite being a murdering sociopath John Goodman was actually the safer option. But you now, molotoving an alien dropship... hmmm. I did dig seeing all the corporate connections to Cloverfield though. I think it would be interesting to make an actual Cloverfield sequel about the invasion.

 

[Croc]

I didn't want to know what was going on outside. What's going on outside is irrelevant aside from the fact that it keeps them trapped. I'm just saying that the aliens part felt tacked on and really different from the rest of the movie.

How is that irrelevant though? lol

That's literally like the whole plot of the movie. The tension the movie raises is, is Howard the real monster or is whatever is outside the real monster? Is Howard the one keeping them trapped, or is whatever is outside keeping them trapped?

And the ending is the movie's way of saying oh hey, it's actually both.

 

[Mzo]

That's not what the Cloverfield IP is about.

Lol @ Cloverfield IP. What is it about? Cash grab marketing?

 

[RyougaSaotome]

Just got out from catching it with he folks, and absolutely loved it. Stellar performances from everyone, and I love the way that turned Cloverfield into more of a brand kind of thing.

The moment MEW stands on the truck and sees a ducking alien ship is great.

 

[NealMcCauley]

I think I was the only one in the theater who laughed at the "pilgrimage to Waco" line.

Same here.

 

[The Kree]

Is there a picture of the aliens online anywhere yet?

 

[Fury451]

Personally thought the film should've ended with her seeing the ship fly over the house, then cut to her driving off hearing the broadcast, then seeing the silhouetted ships from the storm.

As is, it seemed like someone sat on the remote and flipped to a completely different, goofy and schlocky, and less tightly focused film.

Alternatively, a foreign country invasion ending would've been pretty interesting also.

90% of this film was amazing though.

Yep, and he was probably targeting Michelle in the same way -- her kidnapping coinciding with the invasion was just a coincidence.

I don't know, I think he did know something about an invasion. The satellite thing came up a lot. It could of course be a lie and nothing more, but I liked the idea that he knew an invasion was real but kidnapped her anyway, knowing he would never get that chance again if people were wiped out.

 

[Toa TAK]

I think I was the only one in the theater who laughed at the "pilgrimage to Waco" line.

Same here.

Brothers.

 

[zeemumu]

It was only fitting that the most animated character would get dipped.

 

[Expendable.]

Here's our big, spoiler-filled feature on the breakdown of the original script and how it compares to the final film:

How ‘The Cellar’ Became ’10 Cloverfield Lane’: Breaking Down the Original Script vs. the Final Film

 

[Defect]

I forgot to post this but the ARG gave us this a few days ago.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

I don't care what anyone says, I'm going to believe we saw the origins of the Cloverfield monster. I liked that Goodman (who was great in this) was both right and psycho at the same time. I really thought the writers wouldn't let him be correct about aliens and chemicals due to his murderous inclinations.

 

[CharminUltra]

Just got out. While not perfect, I enjoyed the hell out of it. The setting, tone, and the subject matter really hit the spot.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

amazing movie

 

[Junior Asparagus]

Here's our big, spoiler-filled feature on the breakdown of the original script and how it compares to the final film:

I was looking for something like this! Thanks!

 

[WanderingWind]

I freaking loved this movie. By far the creepiest movie I've seen in a long time.

 

[BorkBork]

Loved the film. Everyone's acting was fantastic. I enjoyed the ending as well. It fits with Michelle's character development - after Howard even aliens seem manageable.

I also loved the very loose connection with the original movie. I don't give a shit about trying to connect the two. Even just the name and the vague sci-fi elements were good enough. I want more sequels to be like this.

 

[Toa TAK]

I don't care what anyone says, I'm going to believe we saw the origins of the Cloverfield monster.

But we already know its origins.

 

[Kyuur]

Loved the film, fantastic. Had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I think they tied in the Cloverfield stuff really well, didn't feel tacked on at all. Excited for more films in the 'franchise'.

 

[chaislip3]

Saw it earlier today. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. There was so much tension throughout, and MEW and Goodman were at the top of their games.

Looking forward to seeing where the Cloverfield series goes from here, whether it's a continuation of Michelle's story or something unrelated like 10 Cloverfield was to the original. I know Trachtenberg was interested in both, but I'm in either way.

 

[daegan]

I want that Slusho sign so bad.

 

[Magwik]

Personally thought the film should've ended with her seeing the ship fly over the house, then cut to her driving off hearing the broadcast, then seeing the silhouetted ships from the storm.

This is about where I stand on the film. Part of the issue though might be related to our expectations of the film going in. I wasn't expecting anything more than just some sort of Alien nonsense, so when it got so in depth it was almost jarring.