The Cloverfield Paradox Review – Netflix Releases Following Super Bowl [No Spoilers]

The most interesting thing about ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ was its marketing and release strategy. 

With nothing but a few low humming rumors circulating around the internet, and then suddenly a multi-million dollar Super Bowl advertisement, ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ was released on Netflix following the game.

The next installment of the Cloverfield story picks up in a space station, where a group of scientists have set up a mission to save Earth’s dwindling power supply. After weeks turn into months and then years of failed tests, finally it appears the station’s mission catches a break, but then chaos breaks loose, both for the crew of the ship as well as the movie’s viewers.

‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ felt like it started with great footing, and played with several great ideas, but throughout the final act of the film, few of these concepts equate to any revolutionary ideas or creative plot twists. The concepts of time travel and inter-dimensional space travel are grazed but unlike the first two films in the Cloverfield franchise, there was no pay dirt. 

That’s not to say the movie isn’t entertaining. The visuals and special effects are fun (once again, not great), the characters have some fun moments, and there’s some great tension built. Still, some of the dialogue, especially the comedic relief, fall flat.

Marketing for the film is by far the most interesting part of the whole movie, that Netflix would take the risk of one big Super Bowl commercial to promote the film, and hope that word of mouth would handle the rest. Unfortunately, browsing social media today has made it somewhat obvious that perhaps there is a reason ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ won’t find a home on theater screens. It might be that the movie just wasn’t seen as good enough for a big budget run. 

In so much that we were impressed by ’10 Cloverfield Lane,’ the followup film falls flat in comparison. Maybe expectations are too high for the cinematic universe of Cloverfield at this point to make a fair assessment of ‘Paradox’ as its own work, but outside of some loose connections and maybe some small explanations as to where the first film’s monsters came from, we’re not left with very many exciting new ideas to get us excited for the upcoming fourth movie in the works.

‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ felt like a sideshow, and our hope is that whatever comes next answers more questions than it asks.