10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

[***1/2 stars / *****] 

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a young woman, wakes up after a car accident with her leg chained to a wall and locked up in an underground bunker. 

A bulky old captor Howard (John Goodman) turns up, narrates how he saved her from a large-scale attack by either Martians, Russians or North Korea. That the air outside is not breathable and they will have to live underground for one or two years at least. He assures her that nobody is alive out there. Michelle suspects otherwise.  

Building up consistent nerve-wracking suspense, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a high-quality sci-fi thriller. The final act holds up, despite a much-visited premise, for the dark execution and grit. Highly recommended.

Cloverfield (2008)

[**1/2 stars / *****] 

Making a found footage monster/disaster movie like Cloverfield is a tricky affair. How much to accidentally show and how much to conceal?The film gets it breathlessly right in bits and parts. The Statue of Liberty's beheaded debris stays with you.

Keeping up the tension with an amateur camera shoot feel takes some doing. Some lame direction and a distant connect for the main protagonists negate fear and unpredictability to an extent.

Culminating events into a unraveled love story and somber deaths dull impact. What is a monster movie if the characters don't die magnificently. Eh?

Cloverfield is mitigated, very effective in parts, worth a watch for the exciting narrative medium.