JJ Abrams stunned the cinematic universe in mid-January when a trailer for a new movie, '10 Cloverfield Lane', dropped out of nowhere. Done in secrecy, Abrams involvement in the film was kept under wraps while everyone was focused on his newly released Star Wars movie in December. The movie was a long awaited Cloverfield 'sequel' that fans of the original had been looking for since the original movie came out in 2008.

The movie was originally filmed under other titles 'The Cellar' and 'Valencia' as a low budget film about a woman kept in an underground bunker by a man who claims to have saved her life. When the company that produced it went under, Bad Robot productions picked it up and JJ Abrams became an executive producer, the Cloverfield tie-in was added to the title, and the stunning reveal took place.

So how was the movie and what exactly ties it back to the original film?

SPOILERS AHEAD

This movie is difficult to review because part of me really liked it and wants to give it two thumbs up but there are some major problems I have with the film. The first 75-90 minutes of the movie is really excellent. The plot centers around Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who wakes up after a car crash captive in a bunker owned by a seemingly insane man named Howard (John Goodman). He tells her that there has been an attack on the outside world and that they, along with another man, Emmet (John Gallagher Jr.) who got in to his shelter are the last living humans as the attack outside (and the fallout in the air) has killed everyone else. The rest of the film follows the unlikely trio adjusting to life underground, with Emmet and Michelle becoming increasingly weary of the demanding and short tempered Howard. The final act of the film sees Michelle and Emmet create a makeshift hazmat suit. They are caught using tools by Howard, who then kills Emmet after he lies and says he was using them to make a weapon to garner more respect. Michelle is horrified and eventually finishes the suit and is discovered by Howard. They fight and she is able to severely hurt him and escape into the outside world using the suit, and finds the air to be breathable and harmless.

If '10 Cloverfield Lane' had ended here, I would be inclined to give it a very favorable review and complement the pacing, tense dramatic moments, and foreboding and creepy atmosphere within the small, underground bunker. For the first 3/4 of the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the tense dialogue, broken up by the dry humor of Goodman's uncomfortable character Howard. But the final 10-15 minutes of the movie really ruins the rest of it. After her escape, Michelle sees a UFO flying low over a nearby field. After some loud noises draw it near, an alien creature slips from the UFO to investigate, Michelle flees to a nearby house, which hides behind it a large spacecraft that activates after Michelle's presence and attempts to 'eat' her before she throws an explosive into it's 'mouth' and escape. As she flees the farmhouse, an emergency radio broadcast states that the humans are fighting and winning the battle against the aliens and that volunteers are needed in nearby Houston, where Michelle stops at a traffic sign and turns toward Houston. The final shot shows a couple lightning strikes in the distance which reveals a gigantic alien craft.

And then its over. Just like that.

For fans of the original (like myself) who have been waiting years for this film, it felt like a scam. It really seemed like the movie was supposed to end with Michelle escaping the bunker and finding out everything is okay. I believe that the 'Cloverfield' tag line was simply added, and a few extra scenes featuring UFOs were shot, to bring a bigger audience and more money from the low budget film. The movie has no significant tie-in to the original Cloverfield (other than the fact that Howard used to work for a company called Bold Futura, a satellite agency with marginal significance in the background of the original Cloverfield story). There was never anything to tie the tense drama of the first half (Is Howard lying or telling the truth? Is the outside world safe or is it really dangerous? Is Howard crazy or a reasonable man driven to the edge by a horrible attack?) to the random alien attack in the last act. It felt like aliens for the sake of aliens rather than to complete the story told throughout.

For that reason, I wouldn't recommend seeing this movie. If you are interested in the tremendous storytelling and acting in the first 90 minutes, the end will only ruin it for you. If you want to see it because you are a Cloverfield fan here, there is no tie in (no mention of the monster from the original, not even any great references to it). If you want to see it just for the mystery of what the heck is going on, watch the end online. A spasmodically put-together film that could've been great if split into two separate films.