The Cloverfield Paradox

All right, I'll round those three and a half stars up. The Cloverfield Paradox is, in my opinion, a deliberate tribute to the B sci-fi films of the 1950s, when the spaceship failed to keep itself in space without strings or wire and where the worst paid member of the staff was sweating in every giant rubber monster. But the trashy plot didn't bother me at all, and the actors I think acted exactly how they were supposed to. It's too bad that the serious situation game didn't last all the time and that it had to be interrupted primarily by unfunny escapades around one amputated but still alive hand (“Will it grow back?" belongs more to Monty Python or the Simpsons, not here), because otherwise I was quite satisfied. I liked the ending (aside from the last shot) very much and would say I won't have a problem watching the film again. (06/01/2019)

It’s good, but far from excellent. I was actually expecting a lot worse, which may have lowered the bar. Imperfect for sure, and the logic is also quite flawed... (where did O'Dowd's hand get the information about the gyroscope, for example, well?), but it is nice to look at. It’s visually stunning and the cast led by Brühl and Elizabeth Debicki is fine too. Actually, only Gugu is pretty bland and he’s the lead! The talked-about connection with Cloverfield was very strong, but fortunately not so much that it was distracting. The plot had a much higher potential, but it turned out to be like a Stargate Atlantis episode of Daedalus squared, with better effects and a few extra scares. Onah should work on the themes and leave the direction to someone who can do it better. (19/02/2023)

The longer I think about it, the more The Cloverfield Paradox resembles an idea that simply didn't work out. An attempt that originally wanted to be part of an ambitious series but somewhere halfway through falls short of that intention. The resulting connection is almost an insult to the viewer because this time there are no surprising twists, turning clichés upside down, or even deepening familiar genre boundaries. The earthly storyline jumps from nothing to nothing, and the main attraction, the space part, doesn't come close to any of its thematic counterparts (Sunshine, Prometheus, Life) and is most notable for Chris O'Dowd once again playing Chris O'Dowd, which is as striking as it is liberating. Cloverfield was supposed to be an original series that turned expectations upside down. I don't understand why, a decade later, after the first film crushed me months in advance, its development is desperately clueless. (06/02/2018)

It was passable. Although it has almost nothing in common with the previous episodes and is clearly the weakest, it's still watchable. Story-wise, it's a rip-off of all the better known sci-fi properties, but the kills are pretty good. Visually it's OK, and the crew is also passable, there's always something going on, so there's no boredom either, so an average three stars without a problem. 55% (27/02/2018)

The Cloverfield Paradox tries to be a smart film, but fails on more than one front. You can never have too many alternate reality films, but in this case I found it bland and unpolished. I was expecting a larger dose of suspense and action from a film set on a spaceship that suddenly finds itself in trouble. On the other hand, the dramatic line didn't work either (Ava and her family). In many ways, the film is similar to Life and Aliens, but qualitatively it is quite different. As a result, you sense an obvious yet untapped potential. (04/04/2020)