'The Cloverfield Paradox' Movie Review

Released: February 4th, 2018 (Netflix)

Length: 102 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Director: Julius Onah

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Daniel Bruhl, Daniel Oyelowo, Zhang Ziyi, Chris O'Dowd, Askel Hennie and Elizabeth Debicki

Since debuting a decade ago, the 'Cloverfield' series has made its name by slipping underground after each release, only to surprise movie-goers with a new idea being pulled out of the mystery box. The third entry in the franchise (which mostly ties things together with a few nuggets to expand the mysteries) has taken a different turn, showing up on Netflix rather than the big screen. Does it work? Not all that well I’m afraid.

The Cloverfield Paradox raises some eyebrows immediately with its plot; set in the not-too-distant future aboard the Cloverfield Space Station, the world’s energy resources are dwindling, with the major superpowers set to go to war over the remaining supplies. It’s up to a multinational team of astronauts, engineers, and scientists to discover the secret to unlimited energy and save the planet from catastrophe. The action unfolds both onboard the space station and on Earth where a set of disasters with no clear cause occur from the perspective of lone doctor Michael Hamilton (played by Roger Davies). Paradox’s considerable distance from terra firma is only the start of its failings. The film does a very poor job of world-building as we’re given very basic glimpses of Earth and barely enough time to get to know the space station and all its intricacies. Sure, the action takes you across many of the station's rooms, but they never connect organically. The film's only real strength narratively speaking is the way it haphazardly off plays your expectations with a series of random events aboard the station, making for some occasionally unpredictable surprises; but these are few and far between.

Not only is Paradox a poor contributor to the franchise’s lore, it’s also very one note when it comes to originality. Of all the science fiction films that have been released, it’s Danny Boyle’s Sunshine I was reminded of the most while watching; a desperate mission in space to save those back on Earth, a theme of impending doom and ultimate sacrifice hanging in the balance. The Cloverfield Paradox feels rather derivative in this regard and on top of that, there is barely any world-building both on and off planet Earth, the former of which recalls 2008’s Cloverfield with none of the racing tension. But more than anything else, Paradox doesn’t really feel like a part of the franchise; previous films typically involved the entrance of the supernatural and science fiction into a setting not dissimilar to our own. While this third entry does have ties to issues such as dwindling energy supplies, putting it in outer space seems rather far-fetched. Not only does the third entry step too far outside the bounds of the series, but it also falls well short of the acting standards set by the first two films.

There's only one real bright spot in The Cloverfield Paradox's cast and that's Gugu Mbatha-Raw's performance as protagonist Ava Hamilton; she conveys a lot of emotion throughout, particularly with the distance between her and her husband on Earth. Unfortunately for those hoping for performances up to the standards of the previous films, every other performance throughout feels wasted; the other members of the cast are very barebones; we learn next to nothing about them, particularly their lives on Earth, which could have added more weight to their mission. Each of the characters has one characteristic and little else. To name a few, Kiel is the generic leader of the group with no real character arc, Tam's (Zhang Ziyi) mandarin dialect seems tacked on to give the film some diversity and Elizabeth Debicki's role, which I won't spoil for plot reasons, is painfully flat and monotone. Of all of the characters though, it’s Irish engineer Mundy (Chris O'Dowd) who draws the short straw here with a pretty awful scene involving his arms that couldn’t stand out more awkwardly in a film that’s supposed to be serious and intense. With so little chemistry between the crew, the attempts to build the tension between fall woefully short.

At least it’s all competently produced; The Cloverfield Paradox is no slouch in the visual department, with an array of detailed sets and long exterior shots that translate the scale of the space station beautifully. The music, while not all that memorable, is effective sci-fi fare as it transports you through time and space. The destruction that takes place onboard is very well-rendered, as is the chaos on Earth with a collapsed hospital looking especially bleak and war-torn. The aesthetics of the space station itself fall somewhere in-between the analogue space trucker style of Alien and the hyper future of Star Trek, with heavy uses of green and purple highlighting the important bits of the machinery. Makeup effects for the more brutal fatalities that occur feel especially nasty and overall the film does deliver on the tinges of horror that made their way into Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane. The effects are strong despite a reduced budget, but they can never coalesce properly because the film's other aspects are so prone to failure, much like the station's own particle accelerator.

A far cry from its superior predecessors, The Cloverfield Paradox has veered off course considerably, bringing us a rather rotten apple from its mystery box formula. It does very little that other science fiction films haven’t done already and what’s here is disappointingly underwhelming. Despite its surprise release and minimal marketing, you’ll have a tough time caring throughout.

Rating: 2/5 Stars (Disappointing)