Movie Title
Year
2016
Genre
Sci-Fi,
Sequel, Suspense, Thriller
I had intentionally gone into this movie w/o knowing anything about the story other than the hope that it would be somehow related to the giant monster movie I watched some years ago named Cloverfield. (http://jmerb.blogspot.com/2010/04/movie-review-cloverfield.html)
However, I was sorely disappointed as my expectations were
far from met. Having said this, it is not to say that the actors didn’t do a
good job, because, they delivered in spades. Neither am I saying that this was
a bad movie, as it is definitely not. The performances from Mary Elizabeth
Winstead and John Goodman were top notch and based on that alone, it was a
compelling watch. But as I had said, I was expecting a monster movie a la
Godzilla and the original Cloverfield.
The pacing of the movie is also excellent. At no point in
the movie did I feel like I wanted to press the forward button if I had a
remote.
Despite the story having Sci-Fi elements to explain all the
madness that form the backdrop of the movie, it was a bit of a let-down as we
only get to see the aliens in the last 5 minutes of the movie.
If however, you were to watch this movie as a Thriller
instead of a Sci-Fi Monster Movie, then this movie delivers in spades. The
tension and claustrophobic atmosphere of the movie is palpable.
Coming back to the end of the movie, it is obvious the
studio big-wigs are trying to milk the franchise because it looks like they’re
trying to build it up to be some kind of trilogy or series.
Acting:
Both Mary Elizabeth Winstead (whom I remember I last saw some time back in the remake of the Sci-Fi Horror The Thing: http://jmerb.blogspot.com/2011/10/movie-review-thing.html) and John Goodman deliver
excellent performances.
I especially loved Winstead’s performance (well, maybe
I’m biased as she’s one of my favorite actresses).
Rating:
7/10 (as a Thriller)
5/10 (as a Sci-Fi Monster Movie)
This is definitely a must-watch as a movie.
However, I have
my reservations for Sci-Fi fans or others like me who are expecting the movie
to feature some sort of giant alien monster.
