The name
Cloverfield is an interesting one in the movie world. The found footage monster film was a secret project developed by JJ Abrams, and directed by Matt Reeves, that debuted on January 2008; and it became a success both financially and critically. This was no surprise as the movie, while it has not aged well in certain areas, was certainly originally in its concept. While it looked to be a one hit wonder,this would not be last time moviegoers would see Cloverfield as in 2016 the once solo film became a franchise with the release of
10 Cloverfield Lane.
10 Cloverfield Lane signified that the franchise would taking a unique route as it work as an anthology featuring a variety of different (not to mention bizarre) stories.The anthology trend continues with the third installment in the franchise:
The Cloverfield Paradox. Directed by Julius Onach the newest film in the Cloverfield franchise came from the spec script by Oren Uziel and was originally titled “God Particle”. Keeping true to the series’ secretive marketing, the movie debuted on Netflix immediately after its preview premiered during the Super Bowl. I had the opportunity to watch this unique release and when it was all said and done
The Cloverfield Paradox was no doubt the an ambitious entry in the series, but far from the strongest.
The film centers on the crew of the Cloverfield Station who are tasked to find an alternative energy source in order to save Earth. The crew’s work leads them to build a particle accelerator but the results are catastrophic as the machine leads the station to disappear and puts the crew in a interdimensional dilemma. There is no doubt in my mind the plot to
The Cloverfield Paradox had a lot of good ideas to it. The concepts that the movie played with were interesting and it could have made it into a stellar sci-fi tale. However the problem is how the movie goes about presenting its story. Although it has good ideas the story lacks a firm center that connects everything together. Furthermore the plot had a nasty habit of telling but not showing its conflict which was evident in the movie’s subplot-which did next to nothing to emphasize on the crisis. Along with this issue was the story’s use of conveniences which lead to a number of plot holes within the fabrics of this tale. The plot does have a good sense of tension and things do become more intriguing as it progresses, but it is not enough to save the story as this sci-fi tale is looped between the realms of mystery and utter confusion.
