Cloverfield is One Paradox We Can All Live Without... ("Movie Monday")
"Movie Monday"...
In a surprising (and pretty damn bold) move, someone, somewhere made the decision to forego the upcoming April theatrical release of the third film in the "Cloverfield" family, bumping it to air immediately after 2018's Super Bowl (Feb 4, if American football isn't your thing)... on Netflix.
Say what? A Cloverfield anything, getting the "Do-Not-Pass-Go-or-Stop-Anywhere (meaning those High-Dollar-Houses-o'-Films)-but-Go-Straight-to-Streaming" treatment? Yup. That.
It'll be plenty interesting to follow the fallout from this decision, and to see whether or not this gamble pays off in a big way. In the meantime, though, what about "The Cloverfield Paradox"... since we did, after all, get it a full two-plus months early?
Eh, that's a tricky one.
There's plenty to like about "Paradox", to be sure. It's shiny and pretty and has some nifty effects. The cast is, mostly, interesting and believable enough to keep your attention. And, anytime you're promised from the outset a paradox (hey, it's Right There in the Title!!), you can assume there's at least a modicum of intelligent writing behind the whole shebang, with a little science-y stuff to think about.
Hmm, about that last part...
The premise of "Paradox" is fairly simple: a crew of astronauts (specializing in various science and technical fields) is drawn from around the world, then sent off into space on a joint mission. That mission: to test a device that's some sort of particle accelerator, which--once/if they ever get it to actually work--will solve one of not-too-far-in-the-future-Earth's biggest problems... namely, a crippling energy shortage.
Given that it seems like everyone on Terra Firma is about to wage war on each other, though, it's more like the success of the particle accelerator thingamabob will Save The World(!!). (Yeah, it's a little too simplistic, that plot.)
So, we get a few shots of how bad things are here, interspersed with how things get shot all to hell on the funky spaceship. (Trust me, that's not a spoiler. Have you ever seen ANY movie set in outer space where things don't go balls up? I think not.) It's like so many other movies you've seen before... there are mechanical and equipment malfunctions. Not everyone seems entirely trustworthy. Some of the crew are all "Science FTW! We'll go down with the ship if need be!", while the others are "No bloody way! Let's bugger off and go home!". There'll be gruesome deaths (at least one involving going out an airlock or the like). And, rest assured there's SOME kind of something-bad-inside-the-poor-crew-member-comin'-out scene.
But what about that "paradox"? Well, I probably don't need to break it down for you (no, really--this one's super-simple), but here goes: The crew gradually realize that they've entered into another dimension, another reality, during the Great Happenin' On the Ship. So, if any of them were, say, to try and stay behind, in that alternate reality, they'd surely muck everything up, as they'd run into alternate versions of themselves. (We all know what a Very Bad Idea that is, right? Right??)
In the end, that's about as deep as it gets. (Yes, there's a little--erm, surprise--at the end [which you already know I'm not gonna tell you about], but that comes as more of a "Wait... whaaa? Um, is this all so there can be a sequel??" fashion, than any sort of satisfying resolution or meaningful question.
I dunno; YMMV, but to me this just feels like a glossy but simplistic and jumbled prequel to somethin' else.
Actually, I'm sorta feeling my own paradox, here; one one hand, if "The Cloverfield Paradox" is all there ever is to this story, I'm gonna feel really cheated of 1.75 hours of my life... but on the other hand, I'd be hard-pressed in future to sit through another couple hours in any continuation of this Big Ol' Hot Mess.
~GlamKitty
In a surprising (and pretty damn bold) move, someone, somewhere made the decision to forego the upcoming April theatrical release of the third film in the "Cloverfield" family, bumping it to air immediately after 2018's Super Bowl (Feb 4, if American football isn't your thing)... on Netflix.
Say what? A Cloverfield anything, getting the "Do-Not-Pass-Go-or-Stop-Anywhere (meaning those High-Dollar-Houses-o'-Films)-but-Go-Straight-to-Streaming" treatment? Yup. That.
Eh, that's a tricky one.
There's plenty to like about "Paradox", to be sure. It's shiny and pretty and has some nifty effects. The cast is, mostly, interesting and believable enough to keep your attention. And, anytime you're promised from the outset a paradox (hey, it's Right There in the Title!!), you can assume there's at least a modicum of intelligent writing behind the whole shebang, with a little science-y stuff to think about.
Hmm, about that last part...
The premise of "Paradox" is fairly simple: a crew of astronauts (specializing in various science and technical fields) is drawn from around the world, then sent off into space on a joint mission. That mission: to test a device that's some sort of particle accelerator, which--once/if they ever get it to actually work--will solve one of not-too-far-in-the-future-Earth's biggest problems... namely, a crippling energy shortage.
Given that it seems like everyone on Terra Firma is about to wage war on each other, though, it's more like the success of the particle accelerator thingamabob will Save The World(!!). (Yeah, it's a little too simplistic, that plot.)
So, we get a few shots of how bad things are here, interspersed with how things get shot all to hell on the funky spaceship. (Trust me, that's not a spoiler. Have you ever seen ANY movie set in outer space where things don't go balls up? I think not.) It's like so many other movies you've seen before... there are mechanical and equipment malfunctions. Not everyone seems entirely trustworthy. Some of the crew are all "Science FTW! We'll go down with the ship if need be!", while the others are "No bloody way! Let's bugger off and go home!". There'll be gruesome deaths (at least one involving going out an airlock or the like). And, rest assured there's SOME kind of something-bad-inside-the-poor-crew-member-comin'-out scene.
But what about that "paradox"? Well, I probably don't need to break it down for you (no, really--this one's super-simple), but here goes: The crew gradually realize that they've entered into another dimension, another reality, during the Great Happenin' On the Ship. So, if any of them were, say, to try and stay behind, in that alternate reality, they'd surely muck everything up, as they'd run into alternate versions of themselves. (We all know what a Very Bad Idea that is, right? Right??)
In the end, that's about as deep as it gets. (Yes, there's a little--erm, surprise--at the end [which you already know I'm not gonna tell you about], but that comes as more of a "Wait... whaaa? Um, is this all so there can be a sequel??" fashion, than any sort of satisfying resolution or meaningful question.
I dunno; YMMV, but to me this just feels like a glossy but simplistic and jumbled prequel to somethin' else.
Actually, I'm sorta feeling my own paradox, here; one one hand, if "The Cloverfield Paradox" is all there ever is to this story, I'm gonna feel really cheated of 1.75 hours of my life... but on the other hand, I'd be hard-pressed in future to sit through another couple hours in any continuation of this Big Ol' Hot Mess.
~GlamKitty
Comments
Post a Comment
No ads or shilling, please. And always, always be polite.