What about the missing girl?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — 10 Cloverfield Lane
registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 10:22 PM)
So it's kinda clear that she's not his dauther, that they had stick together long enough to get that picure of them together taken, and that at some point she was bleeding and drew the help message.
So, what exactly happened? Were they dating? were they friends? Why did he lock her? Did he kill her months before events in he movie and threw away the body anyhow? -
BillFenner1967 — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 11:28 PM)
I think Howard could have been a sick pedophile kidnapper who then became these peoples' saviour once the aliens attacked. Both things are possible. So he's the evil creep who did abduct that little girl and keep her down in the bunker and killed her and then he also saved Michelle, the adult female and that guy who lived there as well. But of course once they started to turn against him he was capable to murder to he became evil again.
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AtheismBecauseReason — 9 years ago(January 28, 2017 07:21 AM)
That's why this movie sucks, it isn't focused.
Is the important story the psychological Howard and the mysterious girl story
Or the weird ass action alien ending?
These two things are not meshed in any way. The ending is a completely different movie and it's jarring as all hell. -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(January 28, 2017 02:39 PM)
They may be different in terms of genre (most of the movie is a thriller, then it becomes sci-fi at the end), but they are definitely linked thematically.
The whole movie has Michelle on an arc of standing up and being strong. Chronologically you have Michelle telling a story about seeing something wrong and doing nothing. Then we know that she leaves a possibly unhealthy relationshipthat's action, but kind of passive. Then you have her deciding to escape Howardmore active. In the end you have her truly being assertive and aggressive in dealing with the alien ship.
I also think that the movie works by playing two very different dangers against each other. The alien invasion is dangerous on a grand scale, Howard's obsessions are on a much smaller scale (hurting one person at a time)and yet to Michelle they both mean that she could end up dead.
To me this movie didn't feel all that different from other movies that take place against, for example, the backdrop of a major war. You can have small-scale thrillers playing out against big-scale world events. It is Michelle's developed sense of survival and fight against Howard that prepares her for the much larger struggle against the alien invasion. -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(January 28, 2017 07:32 PM)
It doesn't work for you.
I didn't have much of a problem with it. I saw the movie as tracking Michelle's growth as a person, so her defeating a small-scale evil (Howard) as preparation for a large-scale evil didn't really bother me, even if that large-scale evil was an alien.
I think it's one of those things that you either roll with or it really bothers you. I said in another thread that I totally understand why some people hate it and find it jarring and think that it derails the movie. -
AtheismBecauseReason — 9 years ago(January 28, 2017 07:39 PM)
All that happens is that the movie pauses and says,,,
"we interrupt tonight's presentation of Misery to bring you War of The Worlds"
I get that you think the small scale vs big scale comparison is some deep movement in the film, but it just isn't.
The film's ending is disjointed.
Perhaps if they had gone with a slight different approach, her seeing a destroyed city and driving toward it, then the concept of what you're saying would work, but the way they do it in the film most certainly does not. -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(January 29, 2017 06:34 AM)
I get that you think the small scale vs big scale comparison is some deep movement in the film, but it just isn't.
I think that one experience shaping a person so that they can better cope with another experience is an interesting theme.
Do I think that the sci-fi shift is some amazing moment in cinema? Nope. I think that the movie would have been stronger without it. But I don't mind it and I don't find it as disjoint as you (and many others) do.
As you point out, the movie doesn't give time for Michelle (or the audience) to adjust to the sci-fi elementit throws you immediately into an intense alien confrontation.
But to me there is a difference between "The movie would have been stronger with a different ending" and "The ending ruins the movie." -
AtheismBecauseReason — 9 years ago(January 30, 2017 07:19 PM)
I think that one experience shaping a person so that they can better cope with another experience is an interesting theme.
It is.
Unfortunately completely changing the style of film you are watching, is not.
It would be like watching Aliens, and for the last 15 minutes switching over and watching the Alien Queen vs Mech Suit ending from Aliens instead. They are just two different films and it makes no sense. And you could make the same sorts of connective tissue arguments. The Queen was established by presence of other eggs etc etc. But that doesn't mean it works. It doesn't work. -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(January 31, 2017 01:21 PM)
Unfortunately completely changing the style of film you are watching, is not.
Normally I would probably agree with this, but I feel like
10 Cloverfield Lane
has a slightly different context. The title alone foreshadows that the alien invasion is real. I was expecting aliens at the end.
Now if it were a standalone movie, I think that the genre switch would have bothered me. But because I already knew that it was a thriller wrapped inside of a larger sci-fi plot, I didn't see it as such a radical shift. I saw it more like a little tributary of a story joining the main artery.
It would be like watching Aliens, and for the last 15 minutes switching over and watching the Alien Queen vs Mech Suit ending from Aliens instead.
I'm not being pedantic or a grammar Nazidid you type "Aliens" instead of "Alien" up there by mistake? Just trying to make sure I'm reading your comment correctly. -
Goodbye_from_Fox_In_A_Box — 9 years ago(January 29, 2017 02:27 PM)
Howard was into conspiracy theories, and at one point he says he believes the attack came.from aliens. This was early on, and he was correct. So it's absolutely consistent to the ending.
His kidnapping women and the aliens aren't mutually exclusive. He kidnapped/killed the first girl before the attacks and kidnapped Michelle while it was going on. Emmett confirmed that he saw a flash.
I don't want the world. I just want your half. -
AtheismBecauseReason — 9 years ago(January 30, 2017 07:22 PM)
Howard was into conspiracy theories, and at one point he says he believes the attack came.from aliens. This was early on, and he was correct. So it's absolutely consistent to the ending.
I agree. You're just missing the point.
What you just said doesn't change that the fact that movie completely changes focal points, and completely changes style.
Whether aliens were established or not has absolutely nothing to do with why the ending doesn't work. -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(January 11, 2017 07:35 PM)
I really doubt that they were dating or friends. I think that Howard kidnapped her because she was similar in appearance/age to his own daughter. Much like with Michelle it was probably a kidnapping of opportunity.
Something to keep in mind is that the girl went missing long before the movie, but that doesn't mean that she was
killed
that long ago. As we know from several horrible real-life cases, girls/women can be held captive by their kidnappers for many, many years. In fact, I think it's more likely that she was killed/died pretty closely to the time that Howard takes Michelle. I think that if it had been a long time since she'd died, it's likely that Howard would have noticed the message and blood up in the filtration (or whatever it was) room. I think it's very possible that the kidnapped girl had only recently died and that Howard was just gearing up to take another daughter to replace her.