Review of The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) by Davrosdaleks1 — 20 Feb 2018

Just like everyone's been saying, The Cloverfield Paradox is definitely the weakest of the Cloverfield trilogy falling far short of the excellent first two films. Not terrible, just weak. It doesn't feel like a Cloverfield film either. While the past two movies differed significantly in their plots, they did match in tone with their combination of suspense, horror, and some comedy. This film feels like it was trying to too hard to be Black Mirror. Seriously, the film has a very produced by the BBC or another British channel feel to it. When they used the Cloverfield font for the opening credits, tonally it feels completely alien to what is on screen. The biggest weakness is the plotting. The exposition, why they are up in the space ship trying to create the God Particle, the risks of the Particle, the energy crisis back on Earth, and the character introductions, go by super quickly without any one getting a firm grip on what's going on. Things settle down and become more manageable once the major threat occurs on the ship, but even then when they try to scientifically explain what's going on or how to stop it, it's not the easiest to swallow.

A major mistake of this film was to try to tie into the plot of the first Cloverfield movie. 10 Cloverfield Lane didn't tie in and it didn't need to. I so wish it was the same here. The entire subplot takes place on Earth away from the space station and feels like an entirely different movie. It is dull and aimless. It doesn't help that it follows the husband character, who's the most boring of the cast.

On the plus side, the film does creepy weird stuff very well. When the s--- hits the fan, is when I started being entertained. The other strong part is the story of the main character, Hamilton. It is the only fully-fleshed part of the film. Hamilton is a relate-able woman with a tragic past. You emphasize with her and understand her actions. Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays the part wonderfully.

The other characters don't play so well. They're sort-of one-dimensional with very weak dialogue. The acting isn't much better. Thing is I don't blame the actors. Almost the entirety of the cast, are well-accomplished. I'm personally a fan of Steve Bruhl. The fact that none of them can deliver speaks on the direction. There is one joke involving Kansas. The joke of itself was funny, but the way it was delivered was poorly done that it robbed the joke of all humor.

The set design of the spaceship is distinctive and eye-catching. I especially like the exterior, which is something I haven't seen before. The inside of the ship can be a bit busy visually, though. Makes it hard to focus sometimes.

I really liked the end credits theme, which is from the same guy who did the theme for 10 Cloverfield Lane. The only part that feels like the previous movies, this instrumental continues the tradition of bombastic moodiness.

Again, I wouldn't say this is a bad film. Heck, I could watch it again sometime off in the future. It is just disappointing. The Cloverfield Paradox is one of those films that comes so close to being a good film. Where you can clearly see what could have been fixed. Beneath a weakly directed film is a unique story trying to get out.