The Cloverfield Paradox Review

The Cloverfield Paradox is the third entry this series that acts to some degree as a prequel that attempts to bridge together the events of the other two films. This somewhat creates a messy experience in the sense that it feels as though this was its own movie at one point and then was given a Cloverfield touch. This is mostly apparent through an unnecessary side story that doesn't quite support the core narrative instead taking away from the action. Still, despite the issues I did somewhat enjoy the film as the action kept going while being on the edge of freaky at most points.

The general story of The Cloverfield Paradox is that the Earth is facing an energy crisis and a global team has been sent into space in order to test a possibly unlimited power supply. Things don't go well initially and eventually they do hit success, yet in doing so they've completely jumbled around the time line as well as their current existence. This presents a rather crazy series of events as the universe attempts to repair itself as the crew discovers what's going on.

The character of focus within this small team is Hamilton (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and she was given the most development over the course of the film. The others had some small details revealed, but they were mostly just there to fill certain roles on the ship. I found the random occurrences to be interesting since not everything was exactly horror focused, but just strange things going on. It makes more sense as you progress while some areas of it don't.

There was a sense of confusion throughout the story with the tone of the film. At points it was intriguing, there was some weird action with horror mixed in and a strange placement of comedy. It felt all over the place at times and you just really need to go with it on this one. I thought the setting was great for the most part with an authentic looking craft that felt just expansive enough that they weren't constantly revisiting the same areas.

The Conclusion

The Cloverfield Paradox had some points of interesting with execution that wasn't entirely there. I still had a good time watching it just generally getting past some of the smaller details. This might have been a bit better without the Cloverfield additions.

In regards to any complaints for how that content was put in lore wise I don't really care about the series enough to be disappointed if it didn't fit what happened in the other movies. The cast was decent, the lead acted well really driving the plot forward and doing the best with what material was available. It was an easy watch though it did have some problems to it. The ideas were there, not sure how original they might be, but it was a fine viewing.

The Cloverfield Paradox Review at Home with Streamed Viewing

Rating Overall: 6.2