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| What's John Goodman warning her about? What's out there? |
The two main characters from that 2008 movie, which still holds up, are worried and proclaim their love for each other as one bomb drops and lots of rubble lands on Rob and then another bomb comes in and kills both Rob and Beth but also gets the animal in pain. But, then when we revisit their date on Coney Island on a videotape as Beth says that she had a good day, something falls out of the sky into the ocean. Mysterious, right? However, ever since the trailer for the movie was released, I was surprised because I never thought there would be somewhat of a parallel story to Cloverfield. Despite a clunky third act that made me a bit aghast and sigh in disbelief, this is a palpable thriller that has echoes of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It is solid praise until the third act goes bananas.
I'm going to try my best not to reveal much about the storyline. We meet Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is driving to rural Louisiana following an argument with her boyfriend, Ben, who is never seen but we hear his voice (Bradley Cooper). Ben tries calling Michelle to change her mind from leaving him but she causes a collision, flipping her vehicle multiple times.
Michelle wakes up in a concrete room with saline IV on to her arm and she is chained up to a wall. Her apparent captor, Howard (John Goodman), tells Michelle that it is her only chance for survival as there was another attack and that he has brought her to his underground bunker. She meets Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.), another survivor to whom she expresses skepticism as to why he's down with Howard. She tries to escape but finds a woman with skin infections trying to get into the bunker and she returns to the bunker with the two men for some weeks in which there are some secrets revealed, personal and ginormous.
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| What's Goodman up to? |
Like I said before in the review, the movie felt like an intriguing Alfred Hitchcock movie as we decipher each of three characters, in particular, John Goodman's character in relationship to another character in the past. Plus, all three characters are interesting and the dialogue is taut and most of the suspense is in those confined quarters. And like an Alfred Hitchcock movie such as Rear Window, it is not so much in the setting that causes the suspense but it is the characters and the storylines revolving around the characters that solidifies its tone of the movie.
All of these three actors made the movie in my opinion. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, hopefully, can get a lot of work off from this movie because she captures the feelings of confusion and horror from our point of view. She equals the audience and is quite good. But, the standout is John Goodman, who is underrated as an actor, because his character is unpredictable as how he will react to certain situations and certain secrets. And, also, John Gallagher Jr. gives a good performance as well.
Director Dan Trachtenberg crafts a well-shot and well-directed film that makes an underground bunker a fantastic setting for a sci-fi suspense thriller that ranges from restraint to rage that orchestrates the claustrophobia during the attack. He does get carried away with some camera work that is questionable but is fine for a first-time director. He needs to put more effort in the story than his camera tricks at times. And, that's when the biggest weakness comes in when we get to the third act, as it leads to some sort of formulaic action sci-fi movie like Alien. The tone shifts to hard-core chase picture and it suffers in comparison with the first two-thirds of the movie. Nevertheless, this movie is a solid, smart and precisely-scripted film that gets your eyes glued to the screen for the most of the movie.
***
All of these three actors made the movie in my opinion. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, hopefully, can get a lot of work off from this movie because she captures the feelings of confusion and horror from our point of view. She equals the audience and is quite good. But, the standout is John Goodman, who is underrated as an actor, because his character is unpredictable as how he will react to certain situations and certain secrets. And, also, John Gallagher Jr. gives a good performance as well.
Director Dan Trachtenberg crafts a well-shot and well-directed film that makes an underground bunker a fantastic setting for a sci-fi suspense thriller that ranges from restraint to rage that orchestrates the claustrophobia during the attack. He does get carried away with some camera work that is questionable but is fine for a first-time director. He needs to put more effort in the story than his camera tricks at times. And, that's when the biggest weakness comes in when we get to the third act, as it leads to some sort of formulaic action sci-fi movie like Alien. The tone shifts to hard-core chase picture and it suffers in comparison with the first two-thirds of the movie. Nevertheless, this movie is a solid, smart and precisely-scripted film that gets your eyes glued to the screen for the most of the movie.
***
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