The Cloverfield Paradox

[Arachnerd]

There were rumors back then of a Cloverfield sequel being from a different POV.

 

[MadVillainy]

yeah there was another guy on the bridge with a camera.

I thnk that could've been a bit samey. But something about different perspective's could've worked

 

[harlequinade]

Well this was laughably bad.

Chris O'Dowd, Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki and Gugu deserve better

Spoiler

ARM DISABLED

Lol at that 'this could release demons, monsters, beasts from the sea' moment, not only was the writing unintentionally funny it was also so lazy

 

[Arachnerd]

Oh hey harle, nice to see you here. t:

Yeah, didn't like it much either.

 

[MadVillainy]

Well this was laughably bad.

Chris O'Dowd, Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki and Gugu deserve better

Spoiler

ARM DISABLED

Lol at that 'this could release demons, monsters, beasts from the sea' moment, not only was the writing unintentionally funny it was also so lazy

That was so wild. So on the nose, I couldn't believe they had that

 

[Loki882]

yeah there was another guy on the bridge with a camera.

I thnk that could've been a bit samey. But something about different perspective's could've worked

Or from the perspective of some of the soldiers trying to kill the monster. That could work as well, and be from a somewhat different POV as well.

 

[miller man]

Well, in retrospect, what is else is there to tell?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'd love an actual continuation to the original as much as everyone else, but thinking realistically, where could they go with it? The monster was killed in Operation Hammerdown (confirmed by JJ in an interview back in 2008), so unless they went the direction of the Kishin manga where there were numerous Clover eggs laying dormant in the depths of the ocean, I can't picture any other scenario for a sequel.

That being said, I hope we haven't seen the last of the Clover monsters, despite Cloverfield Paradox and how unlikely it seems right now.

My thoughts exactly. For me personally, I don’t necessarily look at the name Cloverfield as being exclusively about the monster attacking New York. I think of the name as having to do with mystery, supernatural, and the dichotomy of intimate (hand held camera/bunker) versus epic (giant monster attack/alien invasion). But especially mystery. The name itself is an enigma. If they wanted it to be exclusively about the events of the first movie they would have name it something specific. But although I do think he movie itself was fantastic and unforgettable, so much of the fun too was the intrigue surrounding the marketing. Also worked with 10 Cloverfield Lane; that also happened to be a very good movie. Definitely worked with Paradox, it just wasn’t a good movie this time around. However, Paradox’s quality means nothing in relation to future installments. As long as those movies carry that same weight of unknown mystery and turn out to be high quality movies that further those same elements as their predecessors, THAT to me is what Cloverfield represents.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I don't think just doing Cloverfield from another perspective or just showing a movie about killing the monster would be all that great, honestly. I like the core idea of the anthology more, they just need to build a Cloverfield movie from the ground up, not tack it on.

 

[flickchick85]

The appeal of this series concept to me was that, despite what the creatives have filled in behind-the-scenes over the years, we really didn't know jack **** about what was going on in Cloverfield. There was just this monster of mysterious origins attacking New York. Was that just the tip of the iceberg, was government in on it, how long did they know about it, where did it come from, was it an alien, was it man-made or part of some greater experiment, was it the only one, was New York the only city affected, what did the rest of the world see, what happened afterwards...? Those were left unanswered, and so there were so many possibilities of completely separate stories to tell from all sorts of different perspectives and places on the timeline only tangentially related to the monster in NYC that could have gradually filled in those blanks and expanded that universe. But...that's not what they've done.

I also wouldn't have minded if "Cloverfield" just became a brand name for unrelated Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi anthology movies, but that's not what they've done, either. They've just hit a really awkward spot in between that doesn't know what it actually wants to be.

 

[miller man]

The appeal of this series concept to me was that, despite what the creatives have filled in behind-the-scenes over the years, we really didn't know jack **** about what was going on in Cloverfield. There was just this monster of mysterious origins attacking New York. Was that just the tip of the iceberg, was government in on it, how long did they know about it, where did it come from, was it an alien, was it man-made or part of some greater experiment, was it the only one, was New York the only city affected, what did the rest of the world see, what happened afterwards...? Those were left unanswered, and so there were so many possibilities of completely separate stories to tell from all sorts of different perspectives and places on the timeline only tangentially related to the monster in NYC that could have gradually filled in those blanks and expanded that universe. But...that's not what they've done.

I also wouldn't have minded if "Cloverfield" just became a brand name for unrelated Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi anthology movies, but that's not what they've done, either. They've just hit a really awkward spot in between that doesn't know what it actually wants to be.

Those are great points, and yes they have painted themselves into a bit of a corner with Paradox. Lane was a stand-alone that didn’t try too hard to connect, but Paradox definitely wanted to have it both ways. Not to mention that it shamelessly sold itself during the game as heavily related to the first, even though that relation amounted to mere seconds in two scenes. It wouldn’t have been as irritating if the movie otherwise had been very good, but it was not. Thus, we’re left with this frustrating experience where there was little success on either front. Here’s hoping that this was simply one misfire and that Overlord brings the mojo back.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The appeal of this series concept to me was that, despite what the creatives have filled in behind-the-scenes over the years, we really didn't know jack **** about what was going on in Cloverfield. There was just this monster of mysterious origins attacking New York. Was that just the tip of the iceberg, was government in on it, how long did they know about it, where did it come from, was it an alien, was it man-made or part of some greater experiment, was it the only one, was New York the only city affected, what did the rest of the world see, what happened afterwards...? Those were left unanswered, and so there were so many possibilities of completely separate stories to tell from all sorts of different perspectives and places on the timeline only tangentially related to the monster in NYC that could have gradually filled in those blanks and expanded that universe. But...that's not what they've done.

I also wouldn't have minded if "Cloverfield" just became a brand name for unrelated Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi anthology movies, but that's not what they've done, either. They've just hit a really awkward spot in between that doesn't know what it actually wants to be.

I agree with this, which is why they just gotta figure out what the anthology is and not tack it on to other movies. Build some Cloverfield films from their inception. They I think have a CHANCE to do that post Paradox, given they kind of left it very open what the paradox is at the end of the day, but they have to commit to an approach.

 

[Arachnerd]

Overlord is getting released in theaters, so that already tells me Paramount has more faith in it than Paradox (for now, at least).

Also US forces against supernatural Nazi stuff? I'm in.

 

[DyeLorean]

I liked this more when they were all separated stories that happen to have the "Cloverfield" title. Like Black Mirror or Twilight Zone.

 

[elgaz]

Guess I'm in a minority here also, I quite enjoyed this. It definitely had some flaws - there were a few plot holes, some of Chris O'Dowd's comic relief felt forced and out of place, and the ending felt rushed - but overall I didn't think it was a complete disaster.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think it has its good points. IMHO would've been better without all the tacked Cloverfield nonsense.

 

[writer0327]

The only thing remotely good about this was the surprise during the Super Bowl. That was genius. The rest of it was pathetic. I liked the first two films, so I'm not turned away from this anthology, but the real "paradox" is what do they do with this that is remotely interesting?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Eh... Solidly decent little movie that while not reaching the heights it could I still found engaging and entertaining. Reminded me of reading a good Sci Fi anthology story. It's got flaws, it's a little muddled in areas (which of these Clover films hasn't been muddles to an extent) but I liked it enough. Not blow up my skirt perfect but I was interested until the end.

Frankly, I have zero love for the first film and the "mythology " that seems to be built almost totally with ancillary output, so I have no investment in whether this or any future film has a tight, understandable connection to the first movie so that might be a reason I don't find anything all that objectionable about the movie. Cast is god and there wasn't anything close to a bad performance. Yeah, it's dry at parts and as stated not necessarily the tightest script but I still was onboard until the very end.

I honestly could not give one bit about how this franchise is using scripts that were not intended to be Cloverfield films, not getting the level of offense that engenders.

 

[InCali]

The appeal of this series concept to me was that, despite what the creatives have filled in behind-the-scenes over the years, we really didn't know jack **** about what was going on in Cloverfield. There was just this monster of mysterious origins attacking New York. Was that just the tip of the iceberg, was government in on it, how long did they know about it, where did it come from, was it an alien, was it man-made or part of some greater experiment, was it the only one, was New York the only city affected, what did the rest of the world see, what happened afterwards...? Those were left unanswered, and so there were so many possibilities of completely separate stories to tell from all sorts of different perspectives and places on the timeline only tangentially related to the monster in NYC that could have gradually filled in those blanks and expanded that universe. But...that's not what they've done.

I also wouldn't have minded if "Cloverfield" just became a brand name for unrelated Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi anthology movies, but that's not what they've done, either. They've just hit a really awkward spot in between that doesn't know what it actually wants to be.

Flick!!! Language!

Yeah. I thought this was okay and rather enjoyed it, but I could see a bunch of different ways of tying the movies together. I was watching it with my 89 year old mother (who is a total sci-fi freak and has every Twilight Zone ever shown) and the highlight for me was when they had the frozen water incident.

Me: Ooooohhhh.....popsicle
Mom: I wonder what flavor?

After a pause....

Mom: Well, I can't say I'm not glad. At least now they won't be putting those F**ing subtitles I can't read on the goddamn screen anymore.

 

[rorybreaker]

I enjoyed it for what it was.

You will never get a black and white explanation of "this is the monster, this is where it came from". It was always going to be left a mystery.

One parallel I seen something in was the satellite crashing into the water on the news footage, and the original rewound footage at the end of Cloverfield 1. When you see the object fall into the water from the sky in the distance.

 

[Teelie]

There is mystery and then there is what the hell does this have to do with this other set of movies and why does it make no sense whatsoever even in its own universe's laws?

 

[Arachnerd]

I just realized something. This movie is, in some ways, basically the Philadelphia Experiment in space.

 

[chaseter]

I want a good remake of Event Horizon.

 

[jmc]

Watched this. It was trash.

 

[Kanon]

After seeing some posters on the street, I think the "paradox" is that the third movie is the origin of the first one. Not an actual paradox in story, but from the production point of view?

Maybe paradox is just a cool word to use...

 

[Alien Anal]

One of the worst big movies of the year so far.

There was nothing new or interesting about this film its just garbage.