Science fiction and horror are a great combination for a successful film, don’t you think? I suppose you know the Cloverfield films, and today I will talk about the latest one in the trilogy, The Cloverfield Paradox. First off, I want to invite you to see the trailer and then I will tell you a few words about it. maybe you find strange that I put the trailer in the beginning of my post but you will understand
Now a few words about the film
Cloverfield Paradox is an American production, a sci-fi horror movie written by Oren Uziel and produced by Bad Robot Productions. The movie was based on Uziel’s script, God Particle. The film was first announced in November 2012 with the name God particle. During the production of the film, Abrams decides to link this film to the Cloverfields movies. He had the idea to use the particle accelerator as a way for the future events to change the past.
In 2016 the film was announced with the name Cloverfield. For some reason, it was delayed a few times to be released. In 2018, 4th February, under the final name, Cloverfield Paradox, a trailer was shown on Netflix during the Super Bowl game and the film was on right after the game.
What I have seen in the film that took my attention was that the Mandarin language was spoken and understood by the crew members so it makes me think that the Mandarin language is somehow considered the language of the future, near the English language. Also, you can see political messages behind the story but we will not talk about that here. We will talk about time travel films, not about politics.
In January 2018 The Hollywood Reporter said that Netflix paid more than 50 million dollars for the rights. A huge amount don’t you think?
The film action took place in 2028 and the previous ones took place a lot before, but JJ. Adams said that he has a plan how to link them together.
What is the story?
In a near future, 2028, our planet Earth is in a critical situation, a global energy crisis creating a lot of problems. A solution to this major problem is the Shepard Particle Accelerator which will provide infinite energy to planet Earth. It will be tested abroad at the Cloverfield station. Of course, different conspiracy theories appear and one of those is that the particle accelerator can open portals and terrifying creatures from other worlds can pass through. Some scientists fear that a Cloverfield Paradox can be created.
So, there is a crew from all the space agencies ready to test this accelerator. Part of this crew is Ava Hamilton, married to a doctor, Michael. They have relationship problems since their children died in a fire. Members of this special team are also the American Commander Kiel (which is somehow in charge), German Physicist Ernst Schmith, Russian engineer Volkov, Brazilian medical doctor Monk Acosta, Chinese engineer Tam and Irish engineer Mundy.
For two years they were testing Shepard Particle Accelerator without any success. At some moment they finally achieved a stable beam but because it overloaded an accident happened and a power surge on the station was created. The mechanic Tam with the help of the team restores the basic power but problems appear. The Earth is missing. Where is it? Where or when are they? Trying to go home they have an unpleasant surprise. The gyroscope which can help them go home and help the station’s navigation has vanished.
The team starts trying to fix the station but more problems come. They find a strange woman who surprisingly knew most of them, except the mechanic Tam. She claimed to be the mechanic of the Shepard (not Tam). Her name is Mina Jensen.
Something strange happened to Volkov, something was moving under his skin, his eyes. This thing took control of him and made him print a 3D gun and he threatens the crew members. While he does this he dies and many worms come out of him.
Martin gets pulled onto a wall, and his arm was already inside when he is saved by his colleagues. His arm is severed but later they found his arm moving alone in the station. They take the arm and put it safely under a glass device, but they discover that the arm was trying to write something, to tell them something. They give the arm a pen and it writes to cut Volkov open. The crew doctor couldn’t do it but Hamilton has the strength and does it and they find inside him the gyroscope.
The Shepard Crew find the Earth and restore the communications, but they find out that the station was destroyed two days ago and all crew members died so they understand they are in a different dimension, above a different Earth. In this parallel dimension, Ava Hamilton’s children are still alive, the fire didn’t happen and she decides to stay here with Michael and her babies. The Shepard’s malfunction causes the alternate dimensions to interfere.
Tam discovers the problem and tells Schmith how to fix it but she is killed in an accident. After this, because they needed an engineer, Jensen takes Tam’s place.
Mundy is also killed in an explosion caused by a magnetic field and after this, the commander, Kiel sacrifices himself for the mission and Ava Hamilton is left in charge.
At the same time on Earth , Michael finds out that they lost any connection with the Shepard and a wave of destruction made a lot of damage on Earth. Michael helps a little girl, Molly and tries to save her and get her to the hospital, but unfortunately, he finds out the hospital is destroyed. Michael takes the girl to a safe underground shelter, a friend’s place of safety to treat her wounds.
Meanwhile, at the station, Jensen recovers the gun from Volkov and threatens the crew, and kills the doctor, Monk. Having a fight with Jensen, Hamilton takes the gun, shuts a window and ejects Jensen out into space. All the way through the movie you could see Jensen’s reflection shown in such a way that could give you a hint about her duplicity.
Hamilton leaves a message to herself in this dimension, trying to prevent the fire which destroyed her life in the first place, her marriage and killed her children and also leaves her the required adjustments for the Shepard device.
She decides to go back to her own Earth with the crew. Hamilton and Schmith. The only survivors on the spacecraft make the Shepard work, thus providing the earth with the necessary energy supply using Tam’s modifications.and then they return home.
When Michael finds out they are on their way home he tries to prevent this, tries to stop them, but is too late. The spacecraft is reaching the earth’s atmosphere.
The end ..should I tell you how it ends or will you watch it for yourself? I will just tell you that they don’t just come back and everything is ok. You will have a big surprise in the last moments of the movie so… I shall let you watch 🙂
Cast
They all played their role in this adventure so they all deserve congratulations. I will tell you here which actors gave life to this Cloverfield story.
Ava Hamilton – Gugu-Mbatha Raw
Daniel Bruhl – The German Physicist, Erns Schmith
David Oyelowo – The American Commander of the station, Kiel
John Ortiz – the station Brazilian doctor, Monk Acosta
Chris O’Dowd – the Irish engineer, Mundy
Aksel Hennie – The Russian engineer, Volkov
Zhang Ziyi – The Chinese engineer Tam
Roger Davies – Ava’s husband, Michael
Clover Nee – Molly, the young girl rescued by Michael, on Earth
What do they say about the film?
The rating to the well known Rotten Tomatoes was about 4.5 from 10. What exactly was said?
“Brilliant casting is overshadowed by a muddled mix of genres and storylines that scratch more heads than sci-fi itches in The Cloverfield Paradox”
Did people watch it? Did Netflix make a good investment?
On the first night, The Super Bowl night, according to Nielsen ratings, based on the video on demand subscription, 785 000 viewers watched the film and not only them. In the next days’ everybody was talking about Cloverfield Paradox, by three days 2.8 million had watch it and over a week 5 million viewers had enjoyed the movie.
Not so good reviews but actually people enjoyed it. I also did enjoy it. It was a nice film and I surely had a good time…
A few mistakes?
Gravity is wrong on the space station, as the rotation does not match the direction of the shown gravity.
Tam is always speaking Chinese and at some point we see Tam and Schmith speaking Chinese, but Volkov the Russian engineer can’t understand them, so here is a lack of communication and this is a risk especially in critical moments. Such a thing can’t happen is a spaceship. It is not allowed. International space crews typically speak English and Russian if is required, if it is a Russian spacecraft.
When the crew is walking in open space going to split off the maintenance deck, they are walking and jumping like there is gravity. In space, there is no gravity.
There are a few other errors but I will not make you tired with this.
My conclusion?
Do you know what my conclusion is? It doesn’t matter on which Earth we are, or in which dimension we are, we have destroyed Earth and the human race is in danger. Any Earth you will go to, the planet is in danger. And now we will destroy Mars!
I personally enjoyed the film but I would like to hear your thoughts too.
So, watch the film, make your decision on which earth you would prefer to live and tell me your opinion 🙂
Have a good time and I hope you will enjoy it.
==> For further reading , more reviews, viewing and even buying click below and you will find many choices<==
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Thank you
Cristina
I would love to hear from all of you who are also interested in this subject. Movies? Science? Book? Literature?
Whatever your interest is, I would love to meet you.
I agree with you. I thought it was an ok movie. I have watched the previous films way back and I remember a few things. The films they say are not “connected” to each other but after watching the Cloverfield Paradox the first time I had many questions. So I went to see the previous films again, searched for more information and I found that there is an (Alternate Reality Game) ARG related to the films and it suddenly became more interesting. I watched the film a second time and I have to say I enjoyed it better as I was trying to find clues in the film. It becomes more interesting as you know the back story and follow the ARG (which is still active since there is an upcoming fourth film in the works).
I am looking forward also for the fourth film and also, now that you say i am trying to understand those ARG? can you give me a clue? Simply explain me ? I am happy that you enjoyed the movie and Also the previous once were good. i agree. If you watch careful and you understand them, it is a connection .It is a cloverfield Universe.
Thanks Dira for visiting my site and I hope the next film will be same interesting. I will let you know for sure .
Have a good day,
Cristina
The ARG or Alternate Reality Game is an interactive Game that takes place in the real world. To participate in the game you need to follow the clues that are given. They go to the extent of creating fake websites of fake corporations, fake news reports, fake twitter accounts of characters that are part of the Cloverfield Universe. So you get to uncover clues in real-time and some of those clues may be included in the films. To be honest, only those that are really committed will uncover all the clues. Fortunately, there are some great people who share their findings with the rest of us.
Hope this helps?
Either way, thanks for the detailed review and keep up the good work;)
Thanks for your explanation. It helped:))Do you take part to this games?
Thanks again for reading.
Cristina
Hi Cristina,
No, unfortunately I was not able to. You see, these are real-time clues that they give you so if you are not there to catch them on time, you will miss them. It’s like they have an expiry date.
Like I tried to follow everything from the first movie but most are already inactive. And the clues that were given for Paradox like on the Tagrauto website are no longer there. The website is still active and there is something there but it’s probably a clue for the next film, who knows. Fortunately, those who knew about this from the beginning are documenting the clues for people like me who didn’t know about this from the start.
Interesting. Worth having a look Dira. Thank you for your information. I will check Tagrauto web site and see what it’s all about.
Have a good day,
Cristina
Cloverfield was one of my favourite films at its time. It was one of the few first person camera shot films and really caught my attention. Now it’s getting a second movie and I’m pretty excited about it.
Do you think that this “thing” which posesses the crew member has direct relation with the monster in the first Cloverfield movie??
Hello Tyler,
This is actually the third film. the second one was Cloverfield Lane.Soon is coming the fourth one. Those are not anymore person camera shot film. They are very good, all of them. To be honest it is a connection between the three movies and it is a plan for this. i think in the fourth film will be revealed. it is not a thing that possessed the crew. Just the two alternative dimensions interact and cause all those problems. This open a portal to other unknown worlds.
Thanks for visiting my site and have a nice time watching the film;)
Cristina
I am not too familiar with this film, but wow! They really did a premiere of this on the same night that they first showed the trailer during the SB?
This definitely sounds like something I might be interested in watching at some point. I would like to know whether this setting will give somewhat of an accurate prediction as to what might happen around that time haha.
I can definitely see why others seem to be enjoying this film.
My question is, is this movie currently exclusive to the Netflix platform?
Hello Arie,
I think yes, it is exclusive on Netflix for now and on DVD. I am sure you will enjoy it .And yes:) they really did the premiere and the trailer during the SB.
If this is a prediction for the future I can’t tell you but one think is sure…We have destroyed this planet and now we are looking for other planets, or other dimensions:)
Thanks for reading and stay close for more updates.
Have a good day
Cristina
I’ve heard some good (and some bad things) about The Cloverfield Paradox.
At first I thought this was a recurring series on Netflix, so thanks for clearing that up. 🙂
I’m going to add this to my watch list for sure. I agree, who doesn’t like some good ol’ horror with a sci-fi element?
I’m usually a big fan of horror in general, but the story line here seems to have a pretty intriguing twist on top of the usual scares.
Thanks for peaking my interest!
Welcome and i am glad that you found interesting my review. The film has a strange twist int he end but if you like also time travel and space thing combined with a little bit of horror is the right movie.
Watch it and tell my if you like it. This is why I put the trailer go give you a small taste of the film.
Have a nice time viewing it and stay close for more updates.
Crsitina
Thanks for sharing your review of this!
I am, in general, a big fan of a lot of the Netflix Original content. Stranger Things is one of my favorite shows. A Series of Unfortunate Events, some of the original anime, and the Marvel Netflix shows have also been some of my favorites.
So when I saw that this was coming out I was interested. I enjoy sci-fi horror, and I’m a film buff, but I actually thought that this was a show, and I didn’t realize it was a continuation of the Cloverfield movies, like the one J.J. Abrams was involved in.
I heard a lot of mixed and negative reviews, but after reading that you found some good in it I am considering watching it if I get the chance.
Thanks for sharing!
Stranger things is my favorite also ! i am waiting for the next season:)) very good . So , watch the Cloverfield paradox and make your own opinion. I would like to hear it :))
I think you will have a nice time watching this movie. I also love horror films and I am a sci-fi fan so…sci-fi horror is cool:)
Thanks for visiting my site and stay close for updates.
Cristina
Hi Cristina,
Another great post from you. Actually, I did hear about the Cloverfield paradox from a friend of mine. However, reading your post makes me want to see the film and maybe to buy it.
I don’t have Netflix, where else do you think I can see it?
I may just go ahead and buy it.
Thank you and looking forward to your next great post.
Sorry but i think for now is just on Netflix ..maybe later…
You can but it of course:) I am glad that you liked my post and when you will watch it, tell me your opinion.
Did your friend like the movie?
Have a good day,
Cristina
Hi Chrisina,
I will keep coming back to your site because I’m also a big fan of time travel movies. I saw the first Cloverfield movie, and I was riveted by how well it used the power of antcipation to draw you in and deliver a good scare. Your very well written review makes me want to watch the entire trilogy. To answer another question, one of my favorite time travel movies is an oldie–The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I loved the story when I first read it, and I think the movie did a nice job of staying true to the book.
On a more modern twist, I think the original “Back to The Future” was lots of fun. What is your favorite all time travel movie?
Hello Thabo, my favorite is Back To The Future Trilogy. I watched them so many times… Cloverfield paradox was a good movie and I enjoyed it. Time machine is a classic and very good, I also love it.
Thanks for visiting my site and because you are a time travel film fan..stay close for more updates.
Cristina
wasn’t really a BIG fan of sci-fi, but i do watch one now and again, haven’t seen this one yet but because of your review, i will look out for it. Your description of it was forming so many images in my head, i was getting excited…well done on the review Cristina, sounds like one of those movies that is gonna have me completely immersed. i like those kind of movies.
Hello Oneil,
I am glad that you liked my review and I hope you will enjoy the film. Actually, I am sure it will capture you till the last moments.Thanks for visiting my site and hope to see you soon back 🙂 Have a good day.
Cristina
I actually saw this film a few weeks ago, but I was in two minds.
I saw the first Cloverfield movies and I really enjoyed them, and this one took my a little bit by surprise
Although it was not really inline with the other 2 films, I did enjoy it. It was a very clever idea and the effects were excellent.
I like your review Cristina, it is very good, and I recommend people to see this film if they have not already done so.
Thanks
Chris
Hello Chris,
Actually, even if we don’t see a connection between the films, the next Cloverfield, the fourth one will reveal how those three are connected.it is a good movie, I agree, the idea was excellent, and the effects amazing.
Thank you for reading my review and stay close for further updates, more time travel movies:)
Nice to see you again here on my site,
Cristina
Ohh a time travel movie. I love science-fiction. I think it’s nice when people make movies like this. Stephen Hawking died this week so the cosmos is very topical this week.
Wow! I think that it’s great that over 5 million people had watched this in just the first week of it’s release. That sounds like success to me.
I did not know that this movie was part of a series. Do you have to watch the first movie before watching this one or can you just jump right in?
Hello Glenys, actually is not a relation between the three movies so you can skip the first two but it is supposed to come a fourth one which will be revealed what connects the three films… I would advise you to watch all of them even if you don’t see anything in common. For me, yes it is a good movie and worth seeing.
Thanks for reading my article and tell me your opinion about the film as you finish watching it.
have a good day,
Cristina