10 Cloverfield Lane

John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 10 Cloverfield Lane

Dan Trachtenberg's 10 Cloverfield Lane is an efficient enough suspense film that lacks the personal vision to enable it to transcend a rather routine script. If there is a true auteur behind the project it is J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production team. Bits and pieces from previous Abrams projects (Lost. Super 8, Star Trek and Wars, and obviously, Cloverfield) are cobbled together here in a fashion that reflects commercial rather than artistic intent. 

That the film functions well enough is testament to Trachtenberg's and his lead actors' craft. John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are always assets and both perform with aplomb. John Gallagher Jr. lends able support even when saddled with the lamest backstory monologue I've encountered in some years. The script is Swiss cheese, not fatal to a genre flick like this, but clunky all the same. The film is OK fast food fare, digestible, but not memorable or nourishing. (6/22/16)