This was a great business deal for Paramount to let this movie be sent off to Netflix and be advertised. However, is Netflix a dumping ground for movies to be advertised? I don't know. People say that Netflix movies are basically there to be criticized or to be watched but not for repeated viewings. Look, I think Okja and Mudbound are good movies so it's not totally a wasteland. Why would you think that Martin Scorsese is making a movie that is set to debut on Netflix in 2019 with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino called The Irishman? (I can't wait for that one.) But, after the Super Bowl, the movie was dropped because it was advertised during the Super Bowl and fans were anticipating it. I did not watch it immediately, however, I watched it and I have to admit that I was disappointed because of its average narrative and also the setting in which is centered which I will not spoil.
In 2028, Earth's natural resources are severely depleted as they are suffering a global energy crisis. Scientists have created the Shepard particle accelerator to provide unlimited energy to Earth. The Shepard's crew consists of Ava Hamilton (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Commander Kiel (David Oyelowo), Schmidt (Daniel Bruhl), Monk (John Ortiz), Mundy (Chris O'Dowd), Volkov (Aksel Hennie) and Tam (Zhang Ziyi). They have attempted many tries to activate the Shepard to fire the beam upon Earth with not much success. With low fuel and three more tries left, they do not have many options.
People on Earth like pundits like Mark Stambler (Donal Logue) think that the "Cloverfield Paradox" will bring trouble to Earth. Schmidt and Volkov get into a fight because their home countries of Germany and Russia are in bitter conflict. The crew gears the Shepard for one more test and as the station shakes violently, the Earth disappears and it sends them to an alternate dimension as they find a woman, Mink Jensen (Elizabeth Debicki) fused to the circuitry in the walls. They try to find out what happened and try to get themselves back into the present dimension but strange occurrences start to happen around the station.
The movie relies on many cliches that riffs off such sci-fi movies like Alien and even 2001: A Space Odyssey. The journey is not as exceptional compared to the last two movies since it had something to do with the Cloverfield universe but the problem is even though the narrative garners interest and curiosity, the result becomes frustrating as you find out what happens with the characters and how the plot unfolds. I felt that the plot had to be shoehorned into the universe because it has the title, however, it could have another sci-fi movie. I wanted more from this franchise because we got two perspectives from the victims in the beginning during the invasion, which was the first movie, and from the survivors, from the second movie.
Here, the characters are not fully fleshed out even though they give solid performances. The only character who has any backstory is Gugu Mbatha-Raw's character. There is depth that makes her so prominent that there are stakes within her storyline. Daniel Bruhl is solid in depicting a character who is not who he seems to be. David Oyelowo is good as the commander, however, each character by their behavior or ethnic background.
Director Julius Onah has potential to create something quite special with some neat special effects (like that arm trick that almost like a spoof of The Addams Family) but the storyline is nothing that special. Like I said, this could have been anything with a story like a monster or an anomaly roaming around the station killing a person one by one. Maybe, my expectations were high because of its solid momentum from the two movies, but it is derailed by the generic story that yields a bit of fascination and an interesting conclusion, yet, a forgettable experience.
(The movie is unrated but it has violence, disturbing images and brief strong language. However, this is all right for people ages 13 and above. It's a PG-13 movie.)
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