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Saturday, July 5, 2025

The Reel Life: "The Cloverfield Paradox"

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Screen grab from "The Cloverfield Paradox" (2018)

In a surprise move that only the most creative of theorists could have predicted, Netflix announced the third Cloverfield film during the 52nd Super Bowl. Even more shocking, the streaming giant announced that the film would be available to view after the game. In a move that only a member of the Cloverfield series could have done, now we have “The Cloverfield Paradox.”

Set in the Cloverfield space station above the earth, 10 years ago, the film follows a crew from across the globe as they attempt to use a particle accelerator to create free, stable, unlimited energy for the planet. However, just like the previous films, the less known about the film going in the better, so a spoiler warning is in effect for this review.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“San Junipero”) leads the crew as Ava, and her performance carries the entire film. While the rest of the cast pulls their weight as well, no one ever truly attains standout status beyond her.

The film’s practical effects are excellent. While sequences of CGI do exist, it’s clear that a lot of effort went into the more intense and in-depth practical effects sequences, lending the film a sense of realism, despite the bizarre events occurring simultaneously.

However, the film’s writing is it shoddiest aspect. While the overall story is clever and the events are interesting, it’s the moment-to-moment dialogue and actions that feel inferior. It gives the film a layer of cheesiness that the Cloverfield series had managed to avoid until now.

This means that the film’s best and most emotional moments largely succeed due to the actors, but some moments of revelation come too fast to predict. While unpredictability is the nature of the story, there’s now an underlying sense that all logic has gone out the window as the film fails to build a solid foundation for its newly created rules.

For those going into the film looking for answers as to why things are happening within the Cloverfield universe, they may walk away disappointed. While somethings are revealed and explained, this is ultimately a fault of the Super Bowl ad, which promised that answers would be given for the events of the first film.

However, not all blame should be placed on the ad. While it successfully ramped up expectations and hype, it’s also clear that effort was put in post-production to tie the film into the rest of the universe after the film was already made, and it shows.

Despite this, the movie ends up being largely enjoyable for those already indoctrinated into the Cloverfield lore and universe. Although its writing is shoddy with a large serving of cheese, and it borrows from other sci-fi franchises, ultimately, the movie is still enjoyable thanks to its cast and the sheer bizarreness of the happenings. Without a doubt, its unpredictable. It’s just not nearly as good as its predecessors. 3/5

Screen grab from "The Cloverfield Paradox" (2018)

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