10 Cloverfield Lane / YMMV

Awesome Music:
- Bear McCreary's fantastic score.
- "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James & The Shondells
Broken Base: The ending. Is it a fitting conclusion that for all his evilness Howard was right about the aliens, or does it make a mess of a well-done story just for the sake of being able to put "Cloverfield" in the title?
Ending Fatigue: The movie continues on for about 15 minutes after Michelle's final confrontation with Howard and subsequent escape from the bunker, leading into an elaborate climax where Michelle battles and successfully takes down an alien ship before heading off to join La Résistance. Some viewers thought this was too much, and felt the film should have just ended with the reveal that Howard was right about the aliens existing at all.
Epileptic Trees: After the movie premiered, a fan theory was passed around suggesting that Emmett had kidnapped and killed Megan.
Even Better Sequel: The original Cloverfield has a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This film? 90%. There was even some slight buzz that Goodman might receive an Oscar nomination for his role, something that didn't end up happening.
He Really Can Act:
- If you've only seen John Goodman in his comedy films or playing good characters, it can be a real shock to see how genuinely frightening he is as Howard.
- John Gallagher Jr does an amazing job as Emmett, being able to act both for drama and humor when needed.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Watching Mary Elizabeth Winstead crawl through a tight ventilation shaft in a tanktop and barefoot nine years after playing John McClane's daughter in Live Free or Die Hard.
- Just as equally funny for those who watch The Thing, which she does something similar onboard the alien ship. And even more so when she destroys an alien spacecraft in a similar manner to how she destroyed the Thing.
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. playing two young people being held captive in an enclosed space by an older man with unsavory designs is kind of funny considering that Brie Larson, their co-star from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Short Term 12 respectively, played a character going through a similar plight in Room, not to mention that she won an Oscar for that role a few weeks before this film's theatrical release.
Memetic Mutation: Fans agreed that 10 Cloverfield Lane is basically a horror version of Monsters, Inc. since John Goodman plays Sully in the latter film.
Moral Event Horizon:
- While the entire situation is sketchy from the start, when Howard kills Emmett, Michelle realizes that she needs to escape the bunker, no matter what the cost or what may be waiting outside.
- When Howard confronts Michelle and Emmett with the barrel of acid, one could argue he was planning to kill Emmett the entire time, as Emmett was getting friendlier with Michelle, upsetting the father-daughter dynamic Howard wanted. This is actually telegraphed in a blink and you miss it shot where you can see Howard already has his shooting earplugs in before he called them into the room, meaning he may well have already decided he was going to shoot someone.
Narm Charm: The scene with the guessing game. It's creepy that Howard can't call Michelle a woman and can only see her as a little girl, but he keeps repeating "girl" as if saying it enough times will make it the right answer.
The Woobie: Both Michelle and Emmett qualify.
- Emmett moreso, as he was Michelle's only ally and an intelligent Nice Guy. He was begrudgingly let into the bunker by Howard resulting in him getting a shoulder cast. He's also constantly chastised by him, is forced to sleep in a cot, can't be close to Michelle without Howard going into severe rage (they can only talk to each other when they're either in different rooms or when they're with Howard), deeply regrets not going to college to do his track scholarship due to fear of failure, and when trying to calmly talk to Howard out of harming someone and defending Michelle in the process, he ends up getting killed instead. If that wasn't enough, Howard melts his body in a vat of acid.
- Michelle gets in a car crash, held hostage by a crazed maniac and another man in an underground bunker, is forced to see her only ally Emmett (the other man) be shot dead in front of her while being unable to do anything and even when she escapes the bunker she now has to contend to an alien invasion.

YMMV / 10 Cloverfield Lane

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