Review of The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) by Wiscojoe — 05 Feb 2018

The real paradox of "The Cloverfield Paradox" is that the movie is both longer and less interesting than it's entire ad campaign. Marketing-driven "event" films are the new norm in Hollywood, but this takes the formula to a whole new level, serving as nothing more than one big marketing stunt for Netflix and for the Cloverfield franchise (universe? anthology?).

The film itself is generic, forgettable, sloppy, and all-too-worthy of its straight-to-streaming-video fate. Whereas the previous two Cloverfield films were so wholly unique and unexpected that it was easy to forgive their flaws, with "Paradox" we have a standard disaster-in-space flick that recalls way too many other recent exercises in sci-fi schlock.

A fantastic international cast of fine actors is wasted on characters that are thinly written and indistinctly characterized even by the low standards of the genre. It's unfair to even call them cannon fodder, because when they meet their inevitable end it barely even registers.

The direction is limp, the special effects and production design are perfunctory, and the story has a hap-dash feel where anything can happen at anytime in order to advance the plot or cause a jumpscare because, hey, it's a "paradox.

" If you're a diehard Cloverfield fan that absolutely needs to know what is happening and why it started, you'll finally get your answers (as well as some likely disappointment and boredom). If you're looking for suspense/terror/survival in outer space, just go ahead and watch one of the Alien movies, or Sunshine, or Gravity, or Life, or Event Horizon, or Moon, or Interstellar, or Apollo 13, or.

.. wait, no it's at least better than Geostorm, barely.