Review: The Cloverfield Paradox
Is the third always the worst?
During Super Bowl LII, Netflix dropped a bombshell. Not only did the streaming service acquire Bad Robot’s new film, The Cloverfield Paradox released immediately after the game. Shortly after the Eagles raised the Lombardi trophy, I rushed home to watch the movie with my roommates. As fans of Cloverfield (2008) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), we were extremely excited to see what this third installment would add to the franchise. Once the credits began to roll, we just sat there confused, not in a good way.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
The Cloverfield Paradox stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ava Hamilton, a crew member of the Cloverfield Space Station. Alongside her in space are David Oyelowo as Kiel, Daniel Brühl as Schmidt, and Chris O’Dowd as Mundy. This colorful cast is excellent, especially Mbatha-Raw, who nails the emotional moments, and O’Dowd, whose perfect comedic timing brings some much needed laughter to this terrifying affair. Hamilton’s husband, Michael (played very well by Roger Davies), remains on Earth, which is going through an energy crisis. This film definitely needs to be commended for having a non-white female lead as well as more POC in important supporting roles.
Not only is the diverse case awesome, but African American director Julius Onah does some great things behind the camera to show the great design of the Cloverfield. The constantly rotating ship makes looking out the windows dynamic with the exterior lights of the ship coming in and out. There is also a beautiful shot of a foosball table, as the camera zooms in on the little soccer players until they start spinning by themselves and stop suddenly. The set design is also strong. The thin strands of bright colors around the interior of the ship and on the crew’s uniforms are a nice contrast to the surrounding metal. Visually, this film does not disappoint.
Where The Cloverfield Paradox falters in its story. Exposition is dumped onto the viewer almost immediately that explains the Cloverfield’s mission, why it is important, and what is going on planetside. Some pieces of backstory are handled well, such as showing the tensions between countries through an altercation between Cloverfield crew members. Other points are not handled as elegantly, like when the Cloverfield Paradox theory is explained through a one minute interview on the news. The uneven distribution of exposition could have been forgiven, if the film’s plot was compelling.
The crew of the Cloverfield successfully turn on its particle accelerator, then the Earth disappears. Shortly after, the crew finds a mysterious woman screaming in a wall of the ship. These shocking and horrific moments are the strength of The Cloverfield Paradox. At a point, the film seemed like it could be a sci-fi version of The Shining (1980), with people being trapped in one area with frightening happenings that defy logic. The highlight occurrence is when Mundy (O’Dowd) gets his arm sucked into a wall. The changing triangular pattern of the wall is menacing and oddly beautiful as it engulfs the Irishman’s limb. These unpredictable moments make The Cloverfield Paradox unique, but once Schmidt says “It’s not just two particles of two dimensions interacting, we’ve traveled to another one,” the film becomes predictable.
Once the crew realizes the particle accelerator sent them to another dimension, all the wonder of the film dissipates and the plot becomes formulaic. Here are some story beats The Cloverfield Paradox and many other dimension traveling movies use:
- They realize they are in another dimension when the actions of one’s counterpart are wrongly attributed to the original person
- The protagonist sees his/her counterpart has something he/she really wants, so the decision is made to stay in the other dimension
- Someone from this other dimension, who often appears to be an ally, is revealed to be the antagonist. He/She wants something these travelers have.
- Protagonist defeats antagonist and decides to return to original dimension, often realizing that thing they were missing in their home dimension is part of what makes them strong
Watch season 2 of The Flash and notice the similarities. The Cloverfield Paradox fails to do anything new or interesting with interdimensional travel.
When 10 Cloverfield Lane released, many were upset by its ending, despite enjoying the bulk of the film. Those who hated that ending will definitely hate the ending of The Cloverfield Paradox. Those who enjoyed the predecessor’s ending will also hate this ending. It is so abrupt and does not allow any room to wonder about what happens after. It is obvious the filmmakers wanted viewers to yell “Holy shit!” once the monster from the original Cloverfield rose from the clouds, but it results in more shrugging or head shaking. Everything Hamilton and the crew of the Cloverfield accomplished was for naught.
One topic of conversation regarding The Cloverfield Paradox revolves around its effect on the franchise. I will save my thoughts on future installments and continuity for another time *wink wink*. From the quality of this film, it is not ridiculous to think the future of the Cloverfield franchise may look somewhat bleak. The first two Cloverfield films were exciting and unique. The Cloverfield Paradox, while definitely exciting, is derivative. This is hands-down the weakest movie of the three, but that does not mean it is an overall bad movie. This film carries a certain expectation with “Cloverfield” in the title, which makes it more disappointing than anything.
