The movie follows Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as she is in a car crash. She wakes up in a bunker attached to an IV with a splint on her leg. She quickly tries to escape, before her captor, Howard (John Goodman), explains that something has happened outside, and she isn’t allowed to leave. Now, Michelle does what anyone would do… She tries to escape this crazy dude anyway. Eventually though, Howard gains some of her trust when he shows her what the air outside has done to the pigs on his farm. There is also another man down in the bunker with them, Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.). Emmett was hired by Howard to assist in the construction of the bunker, and when he saw explosions happening, he knew right where to go.
throughout. He has so much gravity and purpose on screen, and... his presence is amazing. There is so much tension and mystery generated that you aren’t sure what the truth is and what isn’t, and that’s why it works. It’s also remarkably unclear as to what his intentions with Michelle are. Is she a stand-in for his daughter? A stand-in for his wife? Or just a pet that he enjoys having? There are also some really surprising moments that I won’t ruin here. Like Cloverfield before it, this film isn’t concerned with keeping the audience happy. It’s more about keeping the audience on its toes. The final scene in the bunker is really where the movie should have ended, because after that… well… **************************************************spoilers************************************************** After that, it turns out that Howard and Emmett were right! There are aliens attacking. And apparently they are stupid aliens, because one woman completely outsmarts and destroys them. I HATED, HATED, HATED this part. It was so tonally different from the rest of the film that it just didn’t belong. If the movie would have ended with her emerging from the bunker, I would have been pissed, but happy at what I had just watched. Instead, the movie ended with this battle, and I got bored really fast with the fifteen minute battle scene.
2 Comments
8/29/2016 01:07:07 pm
Yeah, people keep saying that the ending kind of ruins the movie for them. I disagree, but I understand what they're are saying; the ending feels a bit disjointed from the rest of the movie.
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David
8/29/2016 01:13:13 pm
I absolutely agree on Goodman. The man has a presence that goes so much further than his size. What a terrific actor.
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