Article first published as Review: THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX on Seat42F.
The following contains spoilers about The Cloverfield Paradox.
Surprise! Viewers of the Super Bowl were
not expecting to learn that a new Cloverfield movie was on its way. But
that’s exactly what happened when, with only a trailer played during
the football game, Netflix dropped THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX Sunday night.
THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX is the third
film in the loosely connected series produced by J.J. Abrams. The first,
titled simply Cloverfield, was a found-footage monster movie that put
the audience in the perspective of someone running from a Godzilla-like
creature. 10 Cloverfield Lane was mostly a bottle suspense thriller set
in an underground bunker after a post-apocalyptic event. The third film
is set on a space station in the future, and their experiments to find
an unlimited energy supply for mankind rip a whole in space-time that
unleashes monsters and other strange things across multiple dimensions.
So this movie is both a sequel and prequel to the others which are,
presumably, set on different Earths.
Connecting them in this way is pretty
smart for a franchise that doesn’t want to tell a linear story. We now
have the origin of sorts for the very different monsters we see in all
three films, an explanation as to why these things are happening, and
endless possibilities for future installments. As a connecting thread,
THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX works very well. It’s even better that it comes
so late in the series, letting the mystery linger for years before
solving it.
However, THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX is, by far, the weakest of the three installments.
THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX suffers from
being split into too many pieces that fail to form a cohesive narrative.
Our international crew of astronauts, comprised of Hamilton (Gugu
Mbatha-Raw, Belle), Kiel (David Oyelowo, Selma), Schmidt (Daniel Bruhl,
Captain America: Civil War), Monk (John Ortiz, Kong: Skull Island),
Mundy (Chris O’Dowd, Bridesmaids), Volkov (Aksel Hennie, The Martian),
Tam (Ziyi Chang, Memoirs of a Geisha), and Jensen (Elizabeth Debicki,
The Great Gatsby) start off in a somewhat straight-forward,
save-the-Earth mission. This morphs into a cross between Alien and
Apollo 13 as technology goes wrong and things (oddities, not monsters)
haunt the ship. Eventually, as the cast is picked of one-by-one, it
feels very familiar.
This in of itself should have been the
movie, and it would have been OK if it had a few different elements to
keep us guessing where it was going. While parts of it feel like remakes
of other films, there’s enough originality to forge its own path, and
an interesting story boosted by some terrific performances and
spectacular special effects. But there are also very weird things, like
an intelligent hand and arm, that just aren’t satisfyingly explained and
make the whole thing uneven. There are also characters who act out of
character or make ridiculous decisions no one in their right mind would
make, sending the plot off course. Inconsistencies plague this work.
Add to this, THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
forces the DNA of the previous two movies into this one by following
Hamilton’s husband, Michael (Roger Davies, Family Affairs), back on
Earth. Michael first finds himself in a city being actively destroyed by
very big creatures, a la the original, and then takes shelter in a
creepy bunker, as in the sequel. These comparisons feel forced and
unnecessary, distracting and off-tone. It also spoils what could have
been a twist ending otherwise.
There’s also a bit of exposition when an
apparent conspiracy theory nut (Donal Logue, Gotham) warns a reporter
(Suzanne Cryer, Silicon Valley) about what might happen with the space
station. He ends up being right, but I couldn’t help but feel this was a
bit more hand-holding that viewers needed. Unless Donal is a set up for
another film, in which case, I like him enough to overlook this.
I think if the writers wanted to keep
all the pieces they force in, THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX would have worked
better as a television miniseries or season. That way, it could take its
time exploring each of the facets of the tale in a longer narrative
arc. Hamilton could even visit herself on the other Earth, and really
dig into what the multiple dimensions presented mean. It also would make
more sense to keep Michael in it for a potential second season. In this
way, nothing would need to be cut out, and it would almost guarantee
more forthcoming story (J.J.’s name and a big budget making a two-season
order on a streaming service likely). If they wanted to keep this as a
movie, they really should have narrowed in on a few choices and ditched
much of the material they went with.
I will say, I did enjoy the other J.J.
references present. Keep your eyes peeled, and you’ll see homages to
2009’s Star Trek and the television show Alias, as well as hear some
regular Abrams cast voices, such as Simon Pegg and Greg Grunberg.
Overall, I didn’t hate THE CLOVERFIELD
PARADOX. Like I said, there are some really good elements, and in terms
of defining the franchise, it does its intended job. However, there are
enough plot holes and weaknesses to keep it from being a thoroughly
enjoyable watch, and certainly makes it the low point of the series so
far. The potential is strong enough that I want to see it developed
further. But care must be taken to make sure the next installment
doesn’t go off the rails like this one did, which would surely kill any
future stories any time soon.
THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX is available now on Netlfix.
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