Sleeper shocker 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE comes to Blu-ray.
I think everyone was surprised by 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE.
First of all, we were surprised that the movie even existed. Shot under the phony title VALENCIA, the movie just appeared on its real moniker a month or so prior to release, sending fans of producer J.J. Abrams’ first CLOVERFIELD flick into a tizzy trying to figure out how this seemingly unrelated film fit into the first film’s mythology.
That hit found footage kaiju shocker was indeed about a giant behemoth rising from the ocean and laying waste to New York City, with intent to finish off the planet as it went on its merry, indestructible way. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE, however is a three-hander character piece about a dangerous eccentric (John Goodman) who has rescued a young man (John Gallagher Jr.) and woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) from some unnamed apocalypse that has ravaged the earth. As the un-trusting Winstead tries to make sense of the situation, she begins to realize her savior may in fact be her captor.
But how does this fit into the CLOVERFIELD universe? Well, suffice to say that it does, sort of. And we won’t spoil that here.
And regardless of the connection being a craven commercial one or not, the fact remains that 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is a rock solid thriller no matter the title, a big budget, feature length episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE that favors character over special effects and is often almost unbearably tense. The performances are stellar, with Goodman earning most of the accolades from critics who always seem to forget that the man is one of our greatest living actors. It’s a joy to watch him work and a thrill to see him get a complex role like this, where he is essentially the lead and on-screen for 90% of the running time.
I think people will remember this performance for many years to come. And so they should.
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE was released on Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD combo pack on June 14th and revisiting it now proves that first-time director Dan Trachtenberg knew exactly what he was doing, sculpting a thriller that has massive replay value, despite the repeat audience having knowledge of its twists (and there are many). It’s just a great, entertaining movie, designed to draw you into its claustrophobic world, to scare you, make you laugh, excite you and let you go; a well-oiled machine that is a pleasure to experience and it looks marvelous in Paramount’s immaculate 1080p HD presentation.
The 2 disc set saves its special features for the Blu-ray only (the DVD only contains the feature). On it, there’s a glut of highly entertaining EPK and behind the scenes features for those who want to peek at the “wizard (s) behind the curtain”. But the center piece is the feature-length commentary with Trachtenberg and Abrams, a funny, blow-by-blow chat about the making of the movie, with Abrams generally taking a back seat and letting his director do most of the talking. Occasionally Abrams turns into a moderator and asks the newly minted filmmaker questions, not just for the sake of the viewer listening to the track, but because he is genuinely curious.
The two riff on everything from the Bernard Herrmann-influenced score to how they’re both in awe of Goodman and Winstead, to Trachtenberg learning about cinema from listening to the commentary for the rom-com CAN’T HARDLY WAIT. Which is odd. But life is odd, n’est pas?
From the dynamic here, it’s clear that Abrams only interfered with the director in the form of the odd suggestion, some of which ended up on screen, some which did not. These two genuinely enjoy each other, are friendly, calm, respectful and obviously having fun. And because of this…so will you.
