Review: The Cloverfield Paradox

If there are any screams to be had in The Cloverfield Paradox, the latest entry in the Cloverfield film universe, they are screams of boredom. To be fair, the film isn't wholly bad but it seems all too content to be an often listless and derivative work, and in no way deserving of the franchise's characteristically clever marketing and release campaign which, in this instance, introduced the trailer during the Super Bowl with the actual film dropping on Netflix hours thereafter.

The Cloverfield series has always served as a prime example of J.J. Abrams' brand of "mystery box" storytelling and, whilst Paradox doesn't step out of the by-now-usual sandbox of multiple dimensions, competing realities and riddle-wrapped-in-an-enigma MacGuffins, its ever-more tenuous through lines, increasingly stock characters and diminishing quality are surely testing the faith of even the most diehard of fans.

The film concerns the crew of the orbiting Cloverfield Station, who are tasked with testing the Shepard particle accelerator in the hopes of providing Earth with an unlimited supply of energy. Amongst them are Ava Hamilton (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who has left her husband (Roger Davies) behind in order to try and save the planet; American Kiel (David Oyelowo); suspicious German Ernst Schmidt (Daniel Brühl); equally shifty Russian Volkov (Aksel Hennie); religious Brazilian Monk Acosta (John Ortiz); Chinese Tam (Zhang Ziyi); and wisecracking maintenance worker Mundy (Chris O'Dowd). Predictably, things take a turn for the worse when, after two years of failed attempts, their elation at what seems to be a successful test of the accelerator turns to panic when they discover that the Earth is nowhere to be seen. Not only that, but strange happenings start to occur: Volkov is soon vomiting a tidal wave of worms; Mundy's arm is sucked into a wall, cleanly sliced off, and takes on a life of its own; and, a woman named Mina Jensen (Elizabeth Debicki) suddenly materialises inside a wall, ensnared in a tangle of pipes and power lines.

From thereon in, it's more of what Schmidt describes as "Particles interacting with each other, across two dimensions. Two distinct realities, fighting to occupy the same space, creating chaos." Or, more simply, don't get too invested in any of these characters as they'll be done away with in ways that we've seen in far better sci-fi films. The filmmakers prove themselves allergic to all sense of reason, logic or even creativity. As for the cast, it's exasperating to see such talented actors so thoroughly wasted. Mbatha-Raw at least gets to work with a little more than the others, and O'Dowd provides welcome comic relief.

The Cloverfield Paradox

Directed by: Julius Onah

Written by: Oren Uziel

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, John Ortiz, Chris O'Dowd, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Ziyi Zhang, Roger Davies, Donal Logue