The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) review

26. The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

Directed by: Julius Onah

Produced by: J.J. Abrams, Lindsey Weber

Screenplay by: Oren Uziel

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Daniel Brühl, Chris O’Dowd, John Ortiz, David Oyelowo, Zhang Ziyi

Let’s talk about Super Bowl Sunday. Don’t go away! I’m not going to talk football, even though we’re well into the season and the Giants are somehow not terrible. If you aren’t watching the game, you’re probably paying attention to either the halftime show or the commercials; well, in February 2018, you had the Philadelphia Eagles playing the New England Patriots—a.k.a. one of the most painful days of my football life—in Super Bowl LII, and in between the relentless action, we got a surprise trailer for “The Cloverfield Paradox.” No big deal, right? “Jurassic World,” “Mission: Impossible” and “Avengers: Infinity War” all aired trailers throughout the game; it’s a common advertising trend for big blockbusters. But imagine watching a new trailer, and then watching the movie that same night; that’s what happened with this film, which began streaming on Netflix immediately after the game. Much like with the first two “Cloverfield” movies, the marketing was brilliant, just with the secrecy and its promise of paying off everything the early films built up. However, the movie itself only results in more questions than answers, and is more laughable than emotionally stimulating.

As the story begins, Earth is in the midst of a global energy crisis; so a massive campaign is launched, where a team of astronauts is sent aboard the Cloverfield Space Station to test their Shepard particle accelerator that would provide infinite energy for the planet. But nearly two years pass with no success, which takes a toll on British engineer Ava Hamilton (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), whose husband Michael (Roger Davies) has remained on Earth, the two of them on shaky ground since their children died in a house fire. Finally, the Shepard seemingly works, but a power surge takes place, and many of the station’s functions are disabled. But that’s not all; several key elements are missing, an unknown woman named Mina (Elizabeth Debicki) is found fused with wires inside a wall, members of the crew are struck with bizarre ailments…and Earth has somehow vanished from their view. What’s going on, and could it possibly relate to the supposed Cloverfield Paradox that suggests the horrors of parallel universes?

So years before the multiversal possibilities presented through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this toyed with the idea of different realities crossing planes. But here the concept is far more interesting than the execution, as we’re more told the consequences than shown. Wouldn’t it be cool if the crew actually went to Earth and witnessed how different things are? Some of them are now spies, some have entirely different relationships, and some have deceased loved ones who are now alive. But nothing really unique is done with it; we just see how it reflects off Mina, and it’s done in a disappointingly predictable fashion. One film that comes to mind is “Happy Death Day 2U,” which was meant to be silly, but still carried a lot of weight with what’s gained and what’s lost being in a world that isn’t yours. It’s only vaguely touched upon with Ava, who sees on a video she’s home with Michael and their kids, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw—Judge Renslayer on “Loki”—really acts the hell out of these scenes.

But in general, the action is more about the ship coming apart and even trying to eat them, and the events are just random as hell. Irish engineer Mundy (Chris O’Dowd) has his arm painlessly ripped through a solid wall, and I don’t know about you, but the sight of a severed arm crawling around on its own is not scary, and reminds me of the absurdity of something like “Evil Dead 2.” There’s also a strange amount of focus on the foosball table; an entire scene has the players spinning out of control by themselves…and I THINK it’s supposed to be scary, but damned if I knew how. This movie has a very talented and diverse cast, but the characters aren’t very likeable, and they’re saddled with lousy dialogue, with Chris O’Dowd getting the biggest groaner lines. David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl and Zhang Ziyi are all critically acclaimed, but their commander, physicist and engineer characters are just kind of surly and dull; I miss the camaraderie of something like the first two “Alien” films.

I will give credit that the story doesn’t really lose me; I wanted to know what was going to happen—at least in space, the stuff with Michael rescuing the little girl Molly (Clover Nee) is really boring—but it just lacks the chaotic tension of the original “Cloverfield” and the subtle creep factor of “10 Cloverfield Lane,” opting for a needlessly complicated storyline that’s too scattered and unfocused to feel satisfying. It almost never seems like the same continuity, and it doesn’t work the same way as the last film. So despite the marketing ploy, “The Cloverfield Paradox” feels like a movie grasping at straws, and the gimmick wasn’t even that effective, given all the post-Super Bowl viewers that tuned in to a new episode of “This Is Us” instead. In recent years, films like “Underwater,” “Overlord” and even “A Quiet Place” have been speculated as “Cloverfield” spin-offs, but I’m pretty sure they’re standalone movies, although there has been talk of a true sequel in development. Honestly, I feel like any real excitement for the idea has kind of died out, at least with me, after such a letdown of a third entry.

My rating: 4.5/10