Rating of
2.5/4
"The Cloverfield Paradox" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/02/20
A space station undergoing a scientific experiment with particle acceleration suffers an overload and the crew suddenly find themselves…elsewhere.
The first semi-sequel to found-footage monster movie Cloverfield snuck in under the radar and was surprisingly good. This follow-up was similarly unheralded but met with a reception which was rather less friendly. Essentially another Alien-style thriller, The Cloverfield Paradox actually has far more in common with cult sci-fi horror hybrid Event Horizon in premise, although it lacks that film’s atmospheric photography and ornate production design. The main drawback is in its attempt to tie up the three films into a coherent whole, which it singularly fails to do. The hostile reception however was more to do with the distinct lack of logic in its story, although that’s the very reason why I enjoyed it – when a story literally states out loud that “the rules no longer apply”, I for one am happy with any and all nonsense it then produces. Its very daftness – Chris O’Dowd’s arm being a personal highlight – is what prevents it from descending into yet another dreary race-through-corridors-against-time-in-overalls sci-fi story of the kind we’ve seen a million times before.
Unfortunately the reality-defying silliness is abandoned for the finale which is just another Gravity rip-off, but if you don’t take it remotely seriously, Cloverfield’s true Paradox is that it’s so bad that it’s almost kind of good…
