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The Cloverfield Paradox feels more like a low-tier Black Mirror episode. Rated: 4/10 May 19, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews Audience Reviews View All (1000 ...
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Feb 5, 2018 · "The Cloverfield Paradox" is a bit of a scam job, promising to reconcile entries in a series that have little in common save for a shared genre. It fizzles so badly at the end that you might legitimately wonder if it ever had anything to do with the other two films in the first place, or if it was produced independently of the series and ...
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By Jonathon Dornbush
Updated: Feb 8, 2018 4:36 pm
Posted: Feb 5, 2018 9:12 am
The Cloverfield franchise, since the original film’s announcement trailer, has been built on mystery. The first film and, as producer J.J. Abrams called it, its “blood-relative” sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane, covered distinctly different genre territory while touching on similar themes of survival and the relationships that bind us. The Cloverfield Paradox, surprisingly dropped on Netflix months ahead of its originally anticipated theatrical release, aims to jump into yet another new genre — space-set sci-fi with a dash of horror — but never quite reaches the highs of its predecessors. In an effort to provide some insight into the blood tying these films together, the film paradoxically both stumbles in offering clear answers or thrill as a standalone feature.
The world is in need of energy, badly, and a group of international scientists are sent into space aboard the Cloverfield station to harness the Shepard particle accelerator and provide unlimited energy to Earth. For close to 700 days, the crew fails miserably. On one fateful day, however, they perfect the accelerator, but an overload sends the space station…somewhere, And wherever they are, the Earth has disappeared.
The crew endeavors to return home, but misfortune follows them in Final Destination-style horror as multiple universes seemingly collide. Unfortunately, there’s little surprising about what transpires aboard the ship, or how the assembled crew acts in the face of imminent doom.
Even if Cloverfield Paradox’s plot is expected, there’s hope in its ensemble cast of great actors — Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Daniel Bruhl, David Oyelowo, and more — to at least bring heart to the predictability. They are…a mixed bag. As written, the international crew serve as Clichéd Ensemble 101. You’ve got the comic relief in Chris O’Dowd’s Mundy, the leader who hides his emotions for the good of his crew in Oyelowo’s Kiel, the German scientist Schmidt (Bruhl) some are mistrustful of, and so on. Some, like O’Dowd, lean into what little they’re given and make it work, but others, like Oyelowo, are completely underutilized. With Kiel, his choices that should be hefty with meaning often come off as superfluous because we’re given so little time to learn about him.
The only character truly spared this fate is Mbatha-Raw’s Ava Hamilton. We see her decision to join this unique mission, her relationship with her husband Michael on Earth, and learn about her tragic past. Her motivations and subsequent decisions feel earned and understandable, even if I didn’t always agree with them. The emotional through line of the film, Ava’s development is starkly in contrast to a crew of characters who often act more in service to the plot than to themselves.
The Cloverfield Paradox is a paradox in itself. Split between trying to be a standalone sci-fi space horror and a key linking point in the Cloverfield mythos, the film never truly succeeds at either. The original strains of its space-set plot can’t avoid contrived beats, even despite fun performances and an emotionally powerful arc from Gugu Mbatha...
Feb 5, 2018 · A remark last night on Twitter by my colleague Scott Tobias was, alas, wholly accurate: “That straight-to-video feel of releasing films directly to Netflix finds a movie that perfectly suits its ...
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The real paradox is how you can spend money for great effects and a solid cast and waste them on this script. It's like getting a decorated chef for your restaurant and asking him to make a steak tartare with a rotten badger. 5/10. 3/10. Never mind that thing at the end, where was the plot!!
Feb 4, 2018 · The Cloverfield Paradox: Directed by Julius Onah. With Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, John Ortiz. Orbiting a planet on the brink of war, scientists test a device to solve an energy crisis, and end up face-to-face with a dark alternate reality.
