I didn't really overanalyze the alien part / ending. To me, it was actually more of a "meta" moment (similar to Goodman dancing in front of the jukebox, the "This is how you repay me?" "No...this is!" exchange, her saying "Fuck!" when she sees the aliens, etc). The movie straddled a weird divide between high-stress thriller and tongue-in-cheek post-apocalyptic action. And, at least for me, the latter was the cathartic release for surviving the former.
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10 Cloverfield Lane |SPOILER THREAD -OT-Hybrid| Its still not Voltron
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BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Damn, saw this tonight and it was dope. That ending totally caught me off guard.
The molotov scene was a lil dumb though.
The molotov scene was a lil dumb though.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
I like the ending in a From Dusk Til Dawn kind of way where the movie just completely shifts gears from indie horror chamber drama to indie sci-fi thriller. It was like a release from the all the pressure of staying underground, into WTFvile.
TheSadRanger
Banned
Just saw it today without knowing what the surprise is. Browsed the thread a little bit just now and saw people making Ripley comparisons. Which is weird cause during the movie I did think that MEW does kind of look a little bit like a young Sigourney Weaver.
I was fine with the ending, my only complaint was the whole Goodman/Meagan/Brittany thing.
So Emmit says it's not Meagan but Brittany, we see this Brittany girl wearing the same T-Shirt MEW is wearing with a polaroid of Goodman and Brittany inside of what looks like the bunker.
But who took the picture? And didn't Emmit help Goodman build the bunker?
I guess it doesn't matter since there's obviously bigger things going on
I was fine with the ending, my only complaint was the whole Goodman/Meagan/Brittany thing.
So Emmit says it's not Meagan but Brittany, we see this Brittany girl wearing the same T-Shirt MEW is wearing with a polaroid of Goodman and Brittany inside of what looks like the bunker.
But who took the picture? And didn't Emmit help Goodman build the bunker?
I guess it doesn't matter since there's obviously bigger things going on
TheSadRanger
Banned
It was a little bit, and a bit cliche..... Hell Tom Cruise did it War of the Worlds when he tossed a belt of grenades into the sectopods suction thingy.
The entire time though during that scene I was thinking "Is the ship trying to eat MEW or the truck?" lol
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
I thought the pacing was really quite good.
TheSadRanger
Banned
I thought they showed way to much of the bunker stuff in the trailers after seeing it. I mean we knew that MEW was gonna hit Goodman in the head with the bottle, try to and eventually escape. We saw the fire, the barrel, etc.
The only big unseen moments inside the bunker was Emmit getting shot by Harold and dissolved by acid. That's a pretty big thing considering the bunker takes up a majority of the film.
Compare that to the original Cloverfield and it's trailers. In the original all we knew is that some 20 somethings were throwing a party and there's some sort of attack but no one knows from what. Well the party scene only took up 15 minutes of the beginning of the film.
After that you got the monster, the bridge scene, the army battling the monster. The subway scene, the makeshift army triage.
It's a weird contrast in trailers from both films in how the original showed so little of the actual movie and how 10 Cloverfield Lane showed too much.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
I think the ending works because, let's look at the cover.
"Monsters comes in every many"
In this quote, the monster shows the demon in not just the alien creatures, but from human as well. A large majority of the movie shows the struggle of Michelle in the house with two other human, and the situation were as if she was being kept away by a monster, in this case, Howard. She struggled hard to make it through the tough times and when she finally escaped, the 'real' monster outside was relatively a breeze for her to handle after her determination and mental strength has toughen up from her prior experience in the bunker. If it were the same Michelle from the beginning of the movie against the alien, she would most likely have given up and been killed, but at the end, she has grown and are capable of much more in life. The Alien is just a mere subversion to satisfy the 'Cloverfield' title, it really could have been other forms of adversity than aliens or monster, it doesn't really matter.
"Monsters comes in every many"
In this quote, the monster shows the demon in not just the alien creatures, but from human as well. A large majority of the movie shows the struggle of Michelle in the house with two other human, and the situation were as if she was being kept away by a monster, in this case, Howard. She struggled hard to make it through the tough times and when she finally escaped, the 'real' monster outside was relatively a breeze for her to handle after her determination and mental strength has toughen up from her prior experience in the bunker. If it were the same Michelle from the beginning of the movie against the alien, she would most likely have given up and been killed, but at the end, she has grown and are capable of much more in life. The Alien is just a mere subversion to satisfy the 'Cloverfield' title, it really could have been other forms of adversity than aliens or monster, it doesn't really matter.
TheSadRanger
Banned
Devilinthiscity
Member
Caught a showing yesterday with a few friends. Really enjoyed most of it. 3/4 of the movie are great. The last 20-25 minutes are where it all falls apart for me. I mean, I figured that the movie was going that direction leading up to the end. I just feel like it was poorly executed? Idk, it just felt really rushed. That molotov to the mouth is where they jumped the shark.
civilstrife
Member
I'm not the only one saw a bunch of similarities/tie-ins to Portal, right?
10 Cloverfield Lane might not be one of the best directorial debuts, but it is by far one of the most confident I've seen. Every shot feels like plenty of thought has been put into it, and the kind of visual storytelling rarely seen in mainstream movies these days. The opening sequence feels straight out of an 80s or 90s sci-fi classic, and I feel comfortable calling this an original sci-fi despite the franchise in the title. To be honest, choosing to make Cloverfield an anthology franchise is a much better decision than more monster movies, as this film works the magic of mystery in far better ways than the original ever did.
Winstead and Goodman both deserve high praise for their roles, the former holding the movie together and the latter giving a tour de force performance showing how to make little screentime matter. The twists and turns of the plot are always exciting, and the characters don't do anything bizarre; everyone is true to their selves. The score by Bear McCreary is also worth mentioning, as it adds to the atmosphere and some of the film's best moments are thanks solely in sound to him.
Overall, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a shocking spit in the face to the idea of sci-fi franchises today, but one that'll make you want to see more and more Cloverfield movies for years to come. Dan Trachtenberg's first cinematic attempt succeeds in nearly every way, perfectly tense and wonderfully mysterious.
Winstead and Goodman both deserve high praise for their roles, the former holding the movie together and the latter giving a tour de force performance showing how to make little screentime matter. The twists and turns of the plot are always exciting, and the characters don't do anything bizarre; everyone is true to their selves. The score by Bear McCreary is also worth mentioning, as it adds to the atmosphere and some of the film's best moments are thanks solely in sound to him.
Overall, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a shocking spit in the face to the idea of sci-fi franchises today, but one that'll make you want to see more and more Cloverfield movies for years to come. Dan Trachtenberg's first cinematic attempt succeeds in nearly every way, perfectly tense and wonderfully mysterious.
TheSadRanger
Banned
YT and Reddit personalities have been pointing out Half-Life as well. The drop ship in Cloverfield is a variant of the organic Combine gun ship in HL2 and the aliens are the Combine
Serious question - How would leaving the main tension entirely unresolved help the film? I could see someone making a case for more ambiguity - perhaps with MEW only witnessing the open-to-interpretation aftermath of the attack, rather than the aliens themselves - but to simply not address the truth of Goodman's claims one way or another seems pretty iffy to me.
I also liked how the bunker explosion answered one of the lingering questions I had during that sequence - whether she would be chased back in, by whatever is out there. The whole bunker goes up, end to end, and shut the door (so to speak) on that possibility. It ratchets up the tension in the scene by further limiting Michelle's options. She could not go back.
CenturionKei
Banned
Loved it.
While everyone else was good, Goodman blew all the other actors out of the water. My favorite of his performances, behind the Big Lesbloskwi of course.
While everyone else was good, Goodman blew all the other actors out of the water. My favorite of his performances, behind the Big Lesbloskwi of course.
TheSadRanger
Banned
When I was watching I wondered if the explosion was the result of the fire from the acid or if Goodman had explosive charges in place for some sort of "self destruct" that he activated.
I'm pretty sure when she's climbing out of the bunker there's a giant label on the side of what I think was the air filtering unit that said "EXPLOSIVE." So, I'd say it's definitely because the fire made its way there.
edit: also, this isn't a dig at anyone in this thread but I don't really understand the whole idea that not knowing answers makes something better. I just don't get why leaving all of the questions answered with the ending open-ended instead could make anything better. Not answering the questions the film itself revolves around just seems like an easy cop-out to make sure you don't fuck up whatever expectations the audience may have. I mean I am totally for open endings in a general sense but I feel like I would have not liked this movie nearly as much if it ended right when she escapes the bunker.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Yeah, this is a really good point too. I don't know if I'm remembering it right, but at that point, she already knows there's something out there though, right? She's hearing the noise already?
I'm gonna need to rewatch this. I was keyed on looking to the skies at that point, so I wasn't really thinking about whether she'd try to get back in, but if I had been, you're absolutely right, the bunker going up would have had me like "well, shit. She better hope there's nothing out here then."
Shocker
I believe its when she sees the ship in the distance, she hears the rumblings from the bunker and then boom. Then, she looks back over at the ship and it starts coming her way, then she gets down off the truck.
The acid was shown to be flammable, so I just assumed the fire had gotten to the tubs that were dissolving the other guy and all went up at once.
Yeah, it was after she saw the ship. IIRC, she was standing on the car looking at it, and the explosion caused the ship to turn around and head back to the farm. (Which was the other function, I think.)
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Yeah, the more we talk about it, the more the whole aboveground part really works for me. They coulda pulled their punch and ended on just the burning cityscape in that sort of "oooooh, cooooooool" hollow sort of way, but instead they followed through. They didn't half-ass it and check-swing, they went for it, and made it the culmination of her character arc throughout the movie, using the sequence as a means to pay off all that growth she'd made as a person from the beginning of the film. That it happens while also fighting off a giant alien fumigation ship that spits out wormdogs from outer space could be seen as "corny" or "cheesy" or whatever but I think that it felt more honest and risky than simply going for the cheap "cool" ending that allows people to front like you can't somehow have legit alien action movie bullshit and suspense filmmaking and solid acting/characterization all at the same time.
I appreciate that the filmmakers gave the audience a little more credit than to cut the last 10 minutes of the movie off and shortchange themselves and their characters for the sake of appealing to limited imaginations who can't fathom the idea of a movie being more than a safe genre exercise.
Of course, I guess the counterargument there would be that the last 10 minutes are the safe genre exercise, but to me, there's nothing low about that last 10-15 minutes, and it doesn't seem incongruous to what came before, either. The two are glued together really nicely, for me. The stuff belowground flows into what happens aboveground really fluidly, and the stuff aboveground pays off what happened below.
Cutting it off as she gets outside, it's the story of how this girl escaped John Goodman. Letting it play out to the end, it's a story of how a girl triumphed over John Goodman, and Alien invaders, and her own shortcomings as a person.
I prefer the latter. It does more.
I appreciate that the filmmakers gave the audience a little more credit than to cut the last 10 minutes of the movie off and shortchange themselves and their characters for the sake of appealing to limited imaginations who can't fathom the idea of a movie being more than a safe genre exercise.
Of course, I guess the counterargument there would be that the last 10 minutes are the safe genre exercise, but to me, there's nothing low about that last 10-15 minutes, and it doesn't seem incongruous to what came before, either. The two are glued together really nicely, for me. The stuff belowground flows into what happens aboveground really fluidly, and the stuff aboveground pays off what happened below.
Cutting it off as she gets outside, it's the story of how this girl escaped John Goodman. Letting it play out to the end, it's a story of how a girl triumphed over John Goodman, and Alien invaders, and her own shortcomings as a person.
I prefer the latter. It does more.
You should check out Breaking Bad lol.
When I saw that chemical barrel I was so primed for shit to get ugly.
These are pretty much my thoughts after a second viewing. It could've been anything out there, really, all that matters is that Michelle triumphs over it to seal her character arc. Aliens just happened to be one of the more interesting ways to go about it.
There's a shot right after she climbs out of the air vent that shows something that says "FLAMMABLE". I want to say it's the air filtration system, but that doesn't sound right.
Every detail in the film is so well thought through that I feel like it has to be the acid. Crazy flammable liquid used in rocket fuel in a confined space with purified air equals KABOOM. I didn't even think about that being a possibility until it happened, and then I look back and then see that it makes total sense. And then that drives the next part of the story. Love all of these things the movie conveyed to me, in sequence.
Agree with all of this, and with the bold in particular. The movie, at multiple turns, decided, why not both? Most of the film is setting up two questions - whether Goodman's character is right about what's happening on the surface, and whether he's a dangerous lunatic/kidnapper or not. It was great to have a movie that didn't fake out on either front - yes he's a dangerous lunatic. Yes, there's fucked up shit going down outside, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's actually pretty great writing to pay the film off the way they did.
But to your broader point, the story was really setting up three questions, the third being whether Michelle would find the strength to stop running from the battles in her life. That's actually the first thing the story sets up as she flees her marriage, then hangs up on her husband. The backdrop of the bunker is as much about her learning to find that strength as anything else, and the last 10 minutes or so set up that final turn before the credits. Her character arc doesn't reach any meaningful point unless that moment is there.
That they resolve the three core questions of the film, and then end it in a way that's still open ended, set in a larger story than the film had scope to tell, is a pretty great balancing act. But cutting off the end or neutering it would make so much of the rest of the film have less impact, and certainly less of a point.
I also liked how realistically the explosion was done. It blows out to the airlock door first but not through it, then vents out the only weak point in the bunker like a flare.
timetokill
Banned
Just got back from seeing this movie. Haven't read the thread yet as I didn't want it to color my thoughts.
Disclaimer: Never saw Cloverfield. Anyway, I LOVED this movie up until the awful ending.
I found it totally hamfisted. Honestly it felt like they were finishing their own movie and then suddenly a "oh fuck, this is supposed to have some alien shit in it, right?" happened and they scrambled to put it in there.
Inside the bunker it was super compelling. There were moments of introspection, great moments of huge tension, good acting, and so on. It felt grounded and real.
Then we get a scene where she creates a molotov cocktail and throws it into an alien's mouth, which is apparently enough to blow an entire massive airship out of the sky. Honestly throwing explosives into an alien's mouth is as overdone as giant eyes on Zelda bosses. Honestly it's fucking tedious at this point. Not to mention unbelievable as we've gone from "overpowering John Goodman is too much for this girl" to "nah aliens ain't shit I'm driving to Houston" in about 20 minutes. Apparently she has to throw the mask back on just as the alien does it car wash spray of "disease gas" over her, but seconds later it's off and she's in the car and I guess the bad air just evaporates instantly like that now? The editing at this point became shit as well. Bad, bad, bad.
While imperfect, I would've much preferred if the movie simply cut to black a moment after she saw the birds, took off the breathing mask and took a breath.
Disclaimer: Never saw Cloverfield. Anyway, I LOVED this movie up until the awful ending.
I found it totally hamfisted. Honestly it felt like they were finishing their own movie and then suddenly a "oh fuck, this is supposed to have some alien shit in it, right?" happened and they scrambled to put it in there.
Inside the bunker it was super compelling. There were moments of introspection, great moments of huge tension, good acting, and so on. It felt grounded and real.
Then we get a scene where she creates a molotov cocktail and throws it into an alien's mouth, which is apparently enough to blow an entire massive airship out of the sky. Honestly throwing explosives into an alien's mouth is as overdone as giant eyes on Zelda bosses. Honestly it's fucking tedious at this point. Not to mention unbelievable as we've gone from "overpowering John Goodman is too much for this girl" to "nah aliens ain't shit I'm driving to Houston" in about 20 minutes. Apparently she has to throw the mask back on just as the alien does it car wash spray of "disease gas" over her, but seconds later it's off and she's in the car and I guess the bad air just evaporates instantly like that now? The editing at this point became shit as well. Bad, bad, bad.
While imperfect, I would've much preferred if the movie simply cut to black a moment after she saw the birds, took off the breathing mask and took a breath.
RBelong2Us
Member
I mean not really, they had an ending set in the script for outside the bunker. The script was messed with all around not just the ending.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Exactly! And it really does seem to be advocating for the minimization of Michele's character just a little bit. Maybe not the main point (the main point seems to be that people don't like the idea of an actual alien invasion movie getting mixed up in their maybe an alien invasion thriller), but arguing for Michele's arc to stop at getting out of the bunker more or less suggests that it's a better movie just because there's the suggestion of "ambiguity."
Which I don't agree with, as I think ambiguity as to whether there's actually aliens outside gets tossed when melty lady bangs her head like she's got a bad case of Metal Health.
TissueBox
Member
Great movie because of many things I don't feel like going over atm. Let's just say it had a recipe that could've gone terribly wrong if they cooked it with sh*t coordination, but didn't, so it ended up tasting very good. It played up the tropes of its genres of interest cleverly without being too clever, and used the stupid things to its glorious advantage.
Just love how this is a film based on the world Cloverfield established 8 years ago. Shows that what constitutes as continuity (however vaguely official it is) is free to your wildest imagination, no need to be constrained by genre or atmospheric consistency. It's like one of the here-and-there virtues of fanfiction done right.
Just love how this is a film based on the world Cloverfield established 8 years ago. Shows that what constitutes as continuity (however vaguely official it is) is free to your wildest imagination, no need to be constrained by genre or atmospheric consistency. It's like one of the here-and-there virtues of fanfiction done right.
Also removed the possibility of Howard somehow climbing out of the bunker, still melting, and chasing her like a mad man, and then getting eaten by the aliens in some dumb "thematic" end to the character (killed by the very thing he was hiding from!) that robs Michelle of it.
Saw it last night and loved it. Incredibly well crafted and effective film. That smash cut from the LOUD car accident to the silent "Paramount Picture Presents" title card was when I knew I was in for a good ride. Dolby Atmos was worth it.
Also, in regards to the explosion, when Michelle is climbing out of the bunker near the air filtration unit, there's a closeup of something that plainly says "Explosive" or something similar (I believe as she is climbing out of the air vent into the room with the ladder).
TissueBox
Member
This movie is unique because it does the exact opposite of that. That would be a good film, and then later maybe an esteemed one. But this is better than an esteemed film; it's a fresh breath that takes a hundred risks at once, and for some, made the payoff. That is a question on the dot. A "what-if". And it's a film with a decent budget and talent. Thus, I believe it's more redeemed by its boldness than it is undone by its asymmetrical, unstable structure.
The cheesiness of the final moments and the sharp transition into action sci-fi will result in two things: 1) people loving the film, 2) people not loving the film completely.
OmegaSkittle
Neo Member
Saw the movie on Sunday and loved it.
I have a few things about the movie that is kind of bugging me and I can't think of the answer to it.
How did the padlock get on the inside of the exit hatch? Howard was too big to have crawl into that room through the vents, the way that Michelle got in there. I can only think that Emmett would have put the lock on the hatch. So does that mean he knew about the other girl that was presumably kidnapped (and killed) before the events of the movie?
That in turn makes me question whether Emmett was more involved with everything than the audience was led to believe. How did he actually injure his arm?
Still great movie as a whole. Even enjoyed the ending which I thought was a great, wacky turn even if its turn link the movie to the Cloverfield property.
I have a few things about the movie that is kind of bugging me and I can't think of the answer to it.
How did the padlock get on the inside of the exit hatch? Howard was too big to have crawl into that room through the vents, the way that Michelle got in there. I can only think that Emmett would have put the lock on the hatch. So does that mean he knew about the other girl that was presumably kidnapped (and killed) before the events of the movie?
That in turn makes me question whether Emmett was more involved with everything than the audience was led to believe. How did he actually injure his arm?
Still great movie as a whole. Even enjoyed the ending which I thought was a great, wacky turn even if its turn link the movie to the Cloverfield property.
I feel like that room was created and locked before the shit hit the fan. Didn't the guy say he worked on the place for awhile before the events in the movie. Maybe that area has been sealed for sometime.
I actually feel like this is now a really cliched ending that's ripped off something like Gravity. It would also leave Michelle's full character arc unresolved, which would make it pretty unsatisfying.
Someone posted a reddit theory in this thread about Emmett. Not sure if I buy it, but still, pretty interesting.
OmegaSkittle
Neo Member
How did the bloody earing of the girl get in the room then?
Woah. That is pretty a crazy theory.
Prince of Space
Banned
Ditto. Having the movie end with Michelle escaping the bunker only to find the world above a wasteland or whatever and then cut to credits would be such a terrible non-ending that I honestly don't get why some people would prefer that.
It sounds like the same group of internet film majors who swear A.I. should've ended with David praying to the Blue Fairy at the bottom of the ocean.
Lights and Waves
Member
Saw it yesterday, fucking loved it. I loved the original Cloverfield as well. Everything about this movie was fantastic.
The only thing I didn't like was the alien space ship. I preferred the Godzilla approach to the monsters that the first movie had, rather than this outer space invasion. None the less, it was awesome.
The only thing I didn't like was the alien space ship. I preferred the Godzilla approach to the monsters that the first movie had, rather than this outer space invasion. None the less, it was awesome.
My problem with the Reddit theory is that (I thought) that there is another entrance to the ventilation shaft, it's just John Goodman couldn't get it to open due to some sort of pressure issue. I might've misinterpreted.
The girl was abducted and held, and presumably killed, years before shit hit the fan. She probably had to climb in there to restart the air system the same as Michelle and at some point she scratched the message in the window.
So the timeline is:
Emmet is hired to build the bunker with Howard
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Bunker is complete
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Howard abducts woman, holds her in captivity against her will, she is eventually killed by Howard
.
.
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Michelle leaves her husband and starts driving
Attack is about to happen, prelim stuff is going on as power outages in radio hint at
Howard crashes into Michelle so he has another young female companion/captor, brings her to bunker
Attack happens
Emmet shows up and forces his way into the bunker
Michelle wakes up
Everything before the point the movie begins with Michelle leaving takes place over the span of years.
NealMcCauley
Member
There was a hatch; someone earlier in the thread speculated it might have been Brittany's remains blocking the release, or Goodman knew her body was there and faked it being stuck.
I feel like we're all missing something about the shaft/earring/lock that would explain the situation. That seems like the film's only major plot hole.
I'm not a huge Godzilla fan but weren't there Aliens in some of the movies?
VistraNorrez
Member
If you haven't seen Barton Fink, you should. Goodman plays on a similar wavelength in that.
OmegaSkittle
Neo Member
Yeah it still doesn't line up though. If it was padlocked on the inside with the girl inside (cause for her to scratch "Help" while trying to escape), why would her bloody earring be there? There has to be a separate entrance/doorway that was not shown. The earring shouldn't be there if the padlock is on the hatch. The only way I can see it being possible (with no other access point) is that Emmett was involved.
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