'10 Cloverfield Lane' May Have Been the Best Movie of 2016

Before the Movie

'10 Cloverfield Lane' came out in March of 2016, and the fact that I'm still talking about it to this day, proves how much it impacted me. This movie stars John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. The trailers of this movie alone had me intrigued. Considering trailers these days give away a lot about the actual movie, the little to no reveal of what this movie was completely about made me very excited to see it. I ended up going into the theater with moderate expectations.

The Actual Movie

This is one of the first movies that shaped the way I view film today. The incredible cinematography and overall feel this movie was phenomenal. This movie had me on the very edge of my seat the entire movie. The suspense had me literally biting my fingernails. One of the things that I loved about this movie so so much was that throughout the movie we didn't know what to believe, and I could imagine myself in Michelles position and I tried to imagine what I would do if I was her. All the jump scares in this movie got me, and they were true jump scares, no animals popping out or sudden loud music playing to a scary image, true jump scares. It was so interesting to see how the characters played with not knowing what to believe. Was Howard actually keeping them hostage or was the air really contaminated? If so then why was a car heard from Michelles room? Why did they find that picture of the girl that had went missing? All of these led to a perfect suspense movie.

The Ending

One of the main issues everyone has with this movie is its ending. In the end, Howard and Emmett are dead and Michelle leaves the bunker only to realize that the air outside is fine and is ok to breathe. Michelle thinks that Howard was just a crazy man who abducted people and kept them down there, until Michelle actually sees the aliens that Howard had been talking about the entire movie. If Howard was really keeping them hostage and was just a crazy guy and the air was fine, then why were there really aliens in the end? The thing is, is that Howard wasn't necessarily wrong, the air wasn't fine, the green gas that comes from the aircraft is what contaminates the air. The reason that Howard abducted Michelle and kept her down there with him and Emmett is because Howard wanted someone who resembled his daughter Megan who he lost years ago. This confuses some people and some people don't like it. Michelle ends up going into the city for help/to help others and then the movie ends.