10 Cloverfield Lane: Gripper of the week

Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher, Jr.

Rated: 8/10

As thrillers go, this one is a genius of the genre — different and refreshing, on-the-edge and extremely gripping, it flowers in a very confined space of an underground cellar.

Kidnapped after a car accident and kept holed up in a basement bunker with enough supplies to suffice for a lifetime, a young girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) goes through a plethora of emotions — from fear to hostility to resentment to finally reconciliation with her situation. Her capturer (John Goodman) is hard to figure out as his psychotic intentions seem to be pretty well-balanced with his almost genial demeanour.

He is no crazed killer, maybe just a lonely man who needs company and gets it by holding two hostages which he thinks is in all good faith — to save them from impending doomsday. Conjured up and balanced beautifully by star director JJ Abrams, the guy who moulded biggies like the Star Wars, Mission Impossible III and The Force Awakens, the film takes off like a rocket despite being fixated on a bunker. He has put all his cinematic genius in this one with a difference, giving it a thrill to kill experience of a never-before kind.

It is low on publicity but the one to go to for some fast-paced suspense action. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 1 May, 2016