http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179933/

Soon after leaving her fiancé Michelle is involved in a car accident. She awakens to find herself sharing an underground bunker with Howard and Emmett. Has she been saved from an apocalyptical event as Howard & Emmett tell her or are there other motives for her being held against her will?

IMDb: 7.3

This was a very, how do we say it, a very … strange movie. Yes, strange is exactly how 10CL appeared to hubby and me. If you expected a sequel of the original 2008 Cloverfield, no, it wasn’t anything like that. We went from an ensemble grand scale action drama to a very claustrophobic intimate theatre production. Basically we see only three persons, and where the original was surprising us with its handheld amateurish quality, 10CL shines as a very polished, well thought out product that catches us through the acting qualities of John Goodman (Howard) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Michelle) and to a slightly lesser extent also John Gallagher jr. (Emmet).

And where the original had this artificially shoddy quality of a “found footage” movie, 10CL was on a totally different level from the get-go. This was a psychological thriller that left poor Michelle in the dark as well as us. Is John Goodman’s brilliantly written character a pycho killer or is his explanation of why these three people are in his underground bunker believable? Ok, we’re about to find out during the runtime of the movie … but will you be satisfied with the solution?

Well, hubby and me were not. Not that the end sequence was badly directed or produced but it was not what we expected. Not after such a long build-up.

And while that basic question and suspense was keeping us at the edge of our seats for pretty much the whole time, it was also the weakest point of the movie. After a while it becomes tiring, and honestly,  the suspense was droning on for way too long. There is only so much three people have to say if one is stupid as bread and one is acting like the fukin oracle of Delphi. I more or less lost interest in the slow-moving plot and the circling dialogues. And when the ending sequence (ACTION! Finally.) finally appeared I was too far spaced out to even notice how rushed and weak and, yes, expectable, the finale was.

CONCLUSION:

Well meant, properly executed, formidably played by Goodman and Winstead 10CL was quite a ride but in the end much ado about nothing, nothing to write home about. Sorry, but I gotta admit I was slightly disappointed by 10CL.

WATCH IT?

On a rainy and cold sunday afternoon with your loved one (no kidz or family, never more than two persons), in your pyjama, snuggled in your comfy blanket on the sofa and with an ample supply of comforting donuts in grabbing distance.

WHAT DO THE PROFESSIONALS THINK?

Watch my fave movie critic Mark Kermode giving us his take on 10CL: