'10 Cloverfield Lane' revels in the genius of John Goodman

10 Cloverfield Lane

The new thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane gets 2016 off to a good start, with smart, absorbing pacing and some real shocking, satisfying twists. It's a terrific film, which will hopefully find an audience at the box office.

But it also is a wonderful vehicle for John Goodman, one of our country's best and most underrated character actors.

After this film was over I found myself struggling to think of another actor who could play this role. He's one of the few performers who can be both creepy and cuddly, endearing and unnerving, at the same time.

The movie is not a direct sequel to the 2008 monster movie Cloverfield (which has grown on me over time), but it ties into it in some very cool and intriguing ways. It's essentially a character study that owes a lot to the 1990's Misery but also has a jarring tension all its own.

Basically, the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead has an accident and wakes up in the bunker of Goodman's character, who claims that the apocalypse has essentially taking place outside. There is a third person in this setting, which only adds to the drama of the situation and leads to shifting loyalties and some big narrative surprises.

Hopefully, audiences are hip to what this movie is doing. It not only plays with genre expectations but also provides room for real character development, especially for Goodman. He gives a truly Oscar worthy performance in this film, even though this kind of movie never gets love come awards time.

He has been so great for so long, particularly in Coen Brothers movies like Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona, that audiences might take him for granted. But he really has substantial skills and an authenticity that makes the implausible seem plausible.

I can't think of a film I've seen recently that makes better use of sound. Every creak of a door made me leap and the movie's eerie calm is so much scarier than soundtrack induced jump scares.

This film, like a handful of other recent horror-type movies, really learned its lesson from the best of the genre. Films like The Exorcist give you time to invest in the characters and steadily ratchet up the stakes. 10 Cloverfield Lane may alienate some audiences looking for non-stop antics, but for people looking for an intriguing and original time at the movies, it's a delight.

It's also quite funny -- which again is a tribute largely to Goodman's talents. I went in to the movie without preconceived notions and was wildly entertained from start to finish. What more could you hope for?