Scott Hardie: “It was ok.”
Maybe the trailer did it for me, spoiling 80% of the movie. Maybe it's because stories like this always seem to follow the same beats. For whatever reason, I just didn't feel much tension in this little three-role thriller, and tension is really all that it should have going for it. The actors are good; the music and set design are great. The movie would work better without any connection to Cloverfield, partly because of the expectations that it creates about the ending (how much more tense this would be if the title didn't make us anticipate alien monsters lurking outside!), and partly because Cloverfield was a smart deconstruction of its horror genre, while this film is not.
− April 19, 2017 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply
Samir Mehta: Wow, I could not disagree more! To me, this was easily one of the best horror/thrillers of the last ten years. Way better than It Follows, and right behind the Descent.
It actually closely ties to another horror film that I love (and I think you don't like, Scott), which is Frailty - the sudden genre switch is a fantastic strategy. I don't like twists for the sake of twists, but I love twists that suddenly suggest that the entire way you were looking at the story was wrong. i.e., in Frailty, you're left with the queasy belief that the killers are possibly heroes. Here, while horrible, John Goodman's character was legitimately saving the other characters' lives.
Also, that ending... everything from Winstead once she gets out of the shelter is phenomenal. Her stunned reaction to the aliens and the line read of, "Come on!", the payoff to the character arc (where she's conflict averse in the beginning and brave by the end), and the happily haphazard way she takes out the alien ship. Loved it all.
I don't really think I can think of a movie that follows these beats, honestly. What are you referring to?This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − April 19, 2017 • more by Samir
Scott Hardie: I like sudden genre switches; Do the Right Thing is one of my all-time favorite movies. But it was fully expected here; that title all but promises Lovecraftian alien monsters lurking outside of the bunker. It didn't make me rethink what had come before; I spent the first two acts anticipating the third act turning into a horror movie. And I do appreciate the duality of Goodman's character, who is more complex than most genre characters, and the lively performance by Winstead.
But I stand by my primary criticism, that I personally felt very little tension in the movie, probably because the trailer spoiled so much. Maybe I've seen too many episodes of Special Victims Unit (that is to say, every single one of them), but between movies and television, I've seen so many stories where someone is kidnapped or held hostage or otherwise held against their will, and so many stories where someone feigns allegiance to stay alive or keeps details from their captors or improvises lies to dance away from the brink of discovery. Moments intended to be tense, like Goodman inspecting Winstead's room for contraband and the mounting screw falling out of the vent cover, or Goodman confronting both captors with his belief that they're plotting against them and one lying to protect the other and paying the price for it, lacked all surprise or tension to me. I don't have a problem with unoriginality if the scenes are done well, but these were not done sufficiently well to impress me. :-\This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − April 23, 2017 • more by Scott
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