The Cloverfield ParadoxImagine the myriad horrors that could unleashed when science tries to break reality. The Cloverfield Paradox is a sci-fi action thriller about a group of astronauts in a not-too-distant future who try to rectify the world's crippling energy crisis by leveraging a titanic particle accelerator. After almost two years of failed attempts, the "Shepard" finally does what it's supposed to do...or so it seems. The crew of the orbiting Cloverfield Station discovers that they have been shunted into another dimension similar to their own, and a series of bizarre events threaten their lives, as well as those they left behind in their own reality.
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The Cloverfield Paradox was adapted from a script by Oren Uziel called "God Particle" into an entry in the Cloverfield franchise of sci-fi thrillers, along with elements designed to tie it together with the previous two films--Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane. It is inspired by some of sci-fi cinema's most memorable space catastrophe movies, including The Black Hole and Alien. The Cloverfield Paradox features a star-studded cast of talented actors playing a diverse set of characters. Each of the characters are representatives from the different nations of Earth, and speak different languages interchangeably. There is Ava Hamilton (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) from the United Kingdom, who left for space at the behest of her husband, Michael (Roger Davies), in part to cope with the tragic loss of their children in a fire. The American, Kiel (David Oyelowo), is the unshakable commander of the station, while Monk Acosta (John Ortiz), is a Brazilian medical specialist. Ernst Schmidt (Daniel Brühl) is a German physicist who butts heads with other crew members, like the Russian engineer, Volkov (Aksel Hennie), due to the escalating political tensions between their native countries back home. Other engineers that round out the crew include the Irish Mundy (Chris O'Dowd), who cracks jokes even at inappropriate times to diffuse their increasingly stressful situation, and Chinese Tam (Zhang Ziyi), who tolerates Schmidt better than the most. As in The Black Hole, the astronauts are neophytes when it comes to meddling with space-time and other metaphysical forces, and their inexperience often leads to tragic results. They have been trapped in space for almost two years, and the multiple failed attempts to get the Shepard working has left them worn and weary. The setting of a confined space station creates an atmosphere of cabin fever reminiscent of sci-fi horror films like Europa Report or 2001: A Space Odyssey. In a possible nod to the surreal ending of The Black Hole, a metaphysics theorist comments that smashing the Higgs boson particle--a.k.a. the "God Particle"--could give rise to a "Cloverfield paradox", implied to be like opening the door to Hell itself, and unleashing "demons" across time and space. This conceit draws comparisons with Event Horizon--another sci-fi horror film--and suggests that the events in this film were the source of the monstrous events in the rest of the franchise.
After the Shepard malfunctions, the crew believes that they have been shunted to another part of the galaxy. But after they discover the howls of pain from a woman somehow trapped within a maintenance bulkhead named Mina Jensen (Elizabeth Debicki)--an Australian engineer who claims to be a part of the crew--they realize that they have instead been sent to a parallel dimension. This reality proves to be just a little different than their own, recalling the famous "Star Trek" episode, "Mirror, Mirror". The crew of the Cloverfield Station represents various sci-fi archetypes. Acosta is religious and leads most of the crew in prayer when firing up the Shepard, while Schmidt adds a snide remark about "Sunday school" in protest. Schmidt is reminiscent of Paul Reiser's untrustworthy character from Aliens, and The Cloverfield Paradox exploits this when Mina claims that he is a "traitor", further damaging team morale. Mina is preternaturally calm after being rescued from the bulkhead, almost to an inhuman degree, like the androids of the Alien series. (There is even a nod to the infamous chest-bursting scene from Alien in this film.) The Cloverfield Paradox was conceived as a low budget sci-fi flick; after the budget grew dramatically, it was sold to Netflix, who promoted it during the Super Bowl in an unorthodox marketing campaign designed to pay tribute to the original Cloverfield. It shares commonalities with other direct-to-home distribution, high-concept sci-fi films, like SyFy Channel's Atomica, like how it builds its plot around a "what if?" scenario set in a not-too-distant future. Although the majority of The Cloverfield Paradox takes place on the space station, there are scenes that flesh out the world where creating a super particle accelerator in space was the planet's last ditch effort for sustainability. At the beginning of the film, Ava and Michael are waiting in a long line of cars while waiting to fill up their gas tanks--an image recalling the notorious gas rationing from the Seventies. After Ava is displaced from this dimension, Michael--a doctor--saves a small girl named Molly (Clover Nee) from the wreckage of a building. This subplot has elements that recall the prior two films of the series, namely the advent of kaiju monsters like "Clover" (from the original Cloverfield) invading this dimension, and a bunker where Michael and Molly hide, which is similar to the setting from 10 Cloverfield Lane. The Cloverfield Paradox uses the backdrop of an energy crisis to warn about the dangers of shirking our responsibility as stewards of the planet. The astronauts are ambassadors of the world, and unwittingly put the whole world at risk in the pursuit of "more power". On Earth, nations are militarizing to establish their foothold over that energy, and are willing to kill for it--or even endanger reality itself. Despite the noble intentions of the astronauts, they are harbingers of an inevitable disaster. J. Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita regarding the awe-inspiring destructive power of the atomic bomb: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". The Cloverfield Paradox takes the the idea of catastrophically meddling with the forces of the universe and explores how that arrogant pursuit of power threatens not just our world, but others.
Recommended for: Fans of near future dystopian sci-fi space thriller that deals with metaphysics and alternate dimensions, while tying together the previous films in the Cloverfield series. The Cloverfield Paradox wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and classic tropes of the genre can be gleaned at almost every turn by genre fans.
After the Shepard malfunctions, the crew believes that they have been shunted to another part of the galaxy. But after they discover the howls of pain from a woman somehow trapped within a maintenance bulkhead named Mina Jensen (Elizabeth Debicki)--an Australian engineer who claims to be a part of the crew--they realize that they have instead been sent to a parallel dimension. This reality proves to be just a little different than their own, recalling the famous "Star Trek" episode, "Mirror, Mirror". The crew of the Cloverfield Station represents various sci-fi archetypes. Acosta is religious and leads most of the crew in prayer when firing up the Shepard, while Schmidt adds a snide remark about "Sunday school" in protest. Schmidt is reminiscent of Paul Reiser's untrustworthy character from Aliens, and The Cloverfield Paradox exploits this when Mina claims that he is a "traitor", further damaging team morale. Mina is preternaturally calm after being rescued from the bulkhead, almost to an inhuman degree, like the androids of the Alien series. (There is even a nod to the infamous chest-bursting scene from Alien in this film.) The Cloverfield Paradox was conceived as a low budget sci-fi flick; after the budget grew dramatically, it was sold to Netflix, who promoted it during the Super Bowl in an unorthodox marketing campaign designed to pay tribute to the original Cloverfield. It shares commonalities with other direct-to-home distribution, high-concept sci-fi films, like SyFy Channel's Atomica, like how it builds its plot around a "what if?" scenario set in a not-too-distant future. Although the majority of The Cloverfield Paradox takes place on the space station, there are scenes that flesh out the world where creating a super particle accelerator in space was the planet's last ditch effort for sustainability. At the beginning of the film, Ava and Michael are waiting in a long line of cars while waiting to fill up their gas tanks--an image recalling the notorious gas rationing from the Seventies. After Ava is displaced from this dimension, Michael--a doctor--saves a small girl named Molly (Clover Nee) from the wreckage of a building. This subplot has elements that recall the prior two films of the series, namely the advent of kaiju monsters like "Clover" (from the original Cloverfield) invading this dimension, and a bunker where Michael and Molly hide, which is similar to the setting from 10 Cloverfield Lane. The Cloverfield Paradox uses the backdrop of an energy crisis to warn about the dangers of shirking our responsibility as stewards of the planet. The astronauts are ambassadors of the world, and unwittingly put the whole world at risk in the pursuit of "more power". On Earth, nations are militarizing to establish their foothold over that energy, and are willing to kill for it--or even endanger reality itself. Despite the noble intentions of the astronauts, they are harbingers of an inevitable disaster. J. Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita regarding the awe-inspiring destructive power of the atomic bomb: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". The Cloverfield Paradox takes the the idea of catastrophically meddling with the forces of the universe and explores how that arrogant pursuit of power threatens not just our world, but others.
Recommended for: Fans of near future dystopian sci-fi space thriller that deals with metaphysics and alternate dimensions, while tying together the previous films in the Cloverfield series. The Cloverfield Paradox wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and classic tropes of the genre can be gleaned at almost every turn by genre fans.