The Cloverfield Paradox

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)

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)

"My arm helped us find the Earth!" This was written and filmed by people who love not only the original Cloverfield, but all of the space adventures of Alien, starting with a conversational episode of Star Trek. The Cloverfield Paradox is a strangely likeable film that barely stands on its own two feet and comes up with the most absurd paths to connect to its predecessor, yet it’s the process of connecting to a fictional world in motion that delivers a remarkably unpredictable and entertaining game with the viewer, starting from the opening minutes and ending with a perfectly bizarre last shot. Unfortunately, given the mood and physicality of the previous episodes, this is ultimately a maddeningly uneven project, naively weaving horror elements with over-the-top humour and blatantly ripping off just about any space sci-fi despite the original premise of the overarching plot. The fact that, after the psychologically and directorially tight second one, we get an ordinary B-movie with which less talented filmmakers try to pay tribute to everything and to reveal the mystery of the monster through unconvincing dimensional portals that is simply disappointing. I appreciate a few witty ideas and the effort to maintain a similarly limited narrative that lays down more than it solves, but here it has merely "bitten" more than one good film can chew. (05/02/2018)

Did I really see it, or just dreamed it? The Cloverfield Paradox is the space version of The Room that flies with its silliness to somewhere beyond the boundaries of tastelessness, where it shakes hands with Robot Monster, Turkish Star Wars before heading to infinity. Julius Onah, along with the writers, is the new Tommy Wiseau. I believe that in a few years this will be a stellar addition to The Shockproof Film Festival, and with the help of alcohol it could be an interesting group experience, like when the audience of The Room bombards the screen with plastic spoons during midnight screenings. Hell, yeah! (26/03/2018)

The Cloverfield Paradox is not a bad film, but it can leave a certain bitter taste of disappointment, ambiguity, non-fulfillment, or a certain emptiness that comes after the end. Given the cast in the film and what Netflix has been coming up with lately, I found this a little lazy and that it definitely does not live up to the potential that Cloverfield has. It's still decently average, though. (06/04/2018)