The Cloverfield Paradox is a confusing one

Movie Title:   
The Cloverfield Paradox

Grade:  D

Rating: Not rated officially, but it should be R.

In a Nutshell:   To call Cloverfield a trilogy is a bit of a stretch.  The three films are loosely related with a few connected Easter eggs, each one depending on the former films to garner fans and box office success. 

The fan base is small, as evidenced by the very limited theater release.  The biggest surprise is that the first time the trailer for the movie was ever shown was at Super Bowl LII (2018), which was the very same night the movie was shown on Netflix.

                                  

Tips for parents: 

• F-bombs and other profanity.
• Lots of violence.
• Gruesome, gory, gross deaths.
• Disgusting worms.
• Creepy, but helpful, dismembered hand.

Uplifting theme: 

• Teamwork, friendship, loyalty
• Sacrifice
• Humanity, family

                                        

Things I liked:

• I actually liked the first two installments in this franchise. I like that the three are different from each other and make you try to think.
• Chris O'Dowd has the best lines in the movie.
• The lovely Elizabeth Debicki has quite an entrance.
• This will be a fun movie to make fun of at a teenage late-night party.
• Some of the acting was good.

Things I didn’t like:

• J.J. Abrams is great at NOT telling you what’s going on.  Your brain will explode if you spend too much time trying to figure out any of this. It’s occasionally entertaining and mostly confusing, meant mostly for Cloverfield fans.
• David Oyelowo is too good for this silly script.
• You’d think that everyone on the space station would be able to speak the same language.  Tam (played by Ziyi Zhang) kept speaking Mandarin with no subtitles.  People spoke to her in English and seemed to understand what she was saying, which is just another odd element in the movie.  I’ve actually been trying to learn Mandarin, but subtitles would have been super helpful since I’m terrible at Mandarin.  
• Rumor has it that the next chapter in the Cloverfield story.  Next?  Yeah, you heard me.  Do we really want more of this?  There is talk of an entire Cloverfield universe.  (sigh)  
• Apparently, the Cold War is still going strong in the future.
• Multiverse nonsense.  There are way too many theories, dimensions, and timelines going on here for the average person to keep up with or enjoy.
• Some really dumb lines like, "We're going to survive!  We have to!"
• Cat fight in space.   ha ha
• The original title was “The God Particle.”  Then, it was advertised as "Cloverfield 3."  No wonder we're confused...so are the writers.   

Interesting lines:
* "If you're asking if I'd be willing to kill 3 people to save 8 billion, wouldn't you?" -  Jensen   (Elizabeth Debicki)


You can see my movie review for 10 Cloverfield Lane here.  

                                       

                         

                                            @trinaboice