‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ preoccupies itself with connecting franchise dots rather than exploring its own ideas
A surprise Netflix release can’t save this disappointing entry in the ‘Clover’-verse from feeling a bit forced
An international team of astronauts on a space station trying to solve Earth’s energy crisis — what could go wrong? Well, the name of their space station is “Cloverfield Station” and they’re running tests with a giant particle accelerator, so…lots. Lots can go wrong. More than one might think though, because The Cloverfield Paradox is just not as clever, unique, or surprising as 2008’s found footage monster movie, Cloverfield, and its 2016 suspense thriller quasi-follow-up, 10 Cloverfield Lane. With a great cast, a premise with tons of potential, and the Cloverfield franchise connection, it’s disappointing for this latest entry to fall a bit flat while also feeling a bit forced.
It’s pretty normal for movies associated with Bad Robot Productions’ Cloverfield franchise to be shrouded in mystery, leaning heavily on vague viral marketing — it’s basically J.J. Abrams’ M.O. Trailers and details for both Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane were pretty cryptic, and any actual relationship between the two was murky at best. The Cloverfield Paradox, too, had a murky connection to the franchise, originally developed under the working title God Particle with no trailers or details released…until Super Bowl LII.
After some rumors about Paramount Pictures potentially selling what would become The Cloverfield Paradox to Netflix, the first footage aired as a commercial during the Super Bowl, with the news breaking shortly thereafter that the film would be released on Netflix after the game. Even for a budding franchise that’s become known for surprising moves…this was a surprising and unprecedented move. But the surprises kind of end there.
Some Spoilers Ahead
What makes Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane so interesting is that any suspense is propelled by their limited sense of scope. Cloverfield only shows as much as the characters holding the camera. The tension of 10 Cloverfield Lane is not only driven by the events inside the bunker, but if there’s actually some catastrophic event outside the bunker. But Paradox is so concerned with offering an explanation for the Clover-verse that it fails to get out of its own way and take advantage of all the potential it actually has. There’s even an entire subplot on Earth that exists mostly to shoehorn this movie, rather obviously, into the franchise.
Paradox revolves around parallel universes, and introduces a lot of cool ideas through a series of bizarre occurrences. A more thoughtful and fun sci-fi movie would slow down to explore its own ideas though, rather than rushing past its best opportunities. At one point, information is found on the station’s computer that incriminates one of the crew members. One expository info dump of dialogue later, and he’s not only justified his innocence, but summarized the plot. The mysteries never linger long enough to draw out any suspense, and even if they did, the characters rarely seem all that alarmed by their circumstances.
In fact, in spite of the film bringing together a great pool of actors — Daniel Bruhl, David Oyelowo, Elizabeth Debicki, John Ortiz, and Chris O’Dowd — the characters prove to be fairly problematic. For a small international crew that’s been aboard a space station together for two years, they don’t seem to have much of a dynamic. No one seems terribly personable or familiar with each other. Oyelowo and the film’s central character, Ava, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw (best known from everyone’s favorite Black Mirror episode, “San Junipero”) is the possible exception here, but that may be largely due to Mbatha-Raw’s performance.
Haunted by a major loss in her life, Ava actually brings some emotional weight to the film. Where the rest of Paradox fails to explore its own potential complexities, the more personal story that focuses on Ava actually introduces a more intimate conflict in the midst of the film’s fantastic circumstances. While Paradox gets bogged down with unnecessary and premature explanations (no sign of dramatic irony here), Mbatha-Raw stands out by capturing a more emotional and reflective internal struggle that resonates with some meaning. Her arc across the film is the one thing that’s allowed to percolate, and although it’s still not perfect, it’s more affective for doing so.
There are allegedly more Clover-verse movies on the way — specifically a World War II set film tentatively titled Overlord due out next fall — and if that’s the case, it’s odd that Paradox is so intent on providing answers to a larger story, especially since that proves to be its major misstep. Given the subject matter and the sci-fi sandbox it’s playing in, Paradox has plenty of ideas to explore, just not enough interest in actually exploring them. It’s too concerned with connecting the dots, tying up loose ends, and resolving the greater mysteries of the franchise as a whole. A little mystery left hanging isn’t always a bad thing though, and Paradox doesn’t quite get that the way Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane did.