The Cloverfield Paradox

Nonsensical utter garbage in space. The people behind this story should be forbidden to go near a keyboard because a plot like this is borderline criminal.

I am almost 65 years old, and have been a fan of science-fiction all my life. I never heard of Cloverfield and did not know that it was some sort of series until I started reading some of the other reviews on this page. Having no prior knowledge of Cloverfield, I was able to approach the film without any preconceived bias and judge the movie entirely on its own merit. There are very few films that present any truly unique science-fiction idea, but this movie does succeed in blending some old ideas into a new and unique combination. I found this to be a very enjoyable science-fiction film. Although this movie had its share of scientific inaccuracies, I simply attribute them to the fact that the story takes place in an alternate universe where our scientific laws do not all necessarily hold true. This is an unusual science-fiction tale, blended with a touch of horror similar to "Event Horizon". The plot is very interesting. The acting is excellent. The special effects are great. The story is suspenseful. I found this film to be a worthwhile piece of entertainment.

If you're after a film with only big scary monsters, set in space, this is not that film.

This is a film that requires you to think and to get out of your comfort zone.

Simply put, this is a film that is based on the premise of a paradox - leading to a conclusion that seems, to many, logically unacceptable and/or self contradictory.

If you can accept this premise, become absorbed in it, and leave your mind open to something that is not logical or linear, you will enjoy this film.

When I originally watched it, my expectation was more of "Cloverfield" (2008) and "10 Cloverfield Lane" 2016. Whilst it may be set in this universe, it is anything but part of a trilogy, but it is. Is that illogical? Yes - but it's Paradox.

For some, you need to watch it more than once. When I rediscovered this film, I loved it.

The cast is fabulous and the acting is very good. The story is intriguing and the more it unfolds, the more intriguing it becomes.

This is definitely worth a watch, or three.

If someone had told you this was the greatest block buster of the year, or a contender to beat out Star Wars or Alien for greatest sci-fi of all time, you'd be mightily disappointed.

And coming from J.J. Abrams and stupidly having had the "Cloverfield" thing jammed into it pointlessly, anyone would reasonably be very disappointed, or if you are someone who has to over think movies you would be too.

But if you approach this like an episode of Doctor Who, or Torchwood, or some other BBC type sci-fi series, (which is what it looks like given the actors), it is fine, and if you tell someone to approach it that way they might enjoy it even you didn't.

I love sci-fi. I LOVE it. So I've seen dozens of these average forgettable sci-fi b-movies. With this one it looks like they followed some sort of "generic sci-fi b-movie checklist". Let's get to the point:

-Generic b-movie plot.

-Generic physics mambo jambo that makes no sense.

-Generic crew. Generic characters making obvious mistakes (I mean, if a magnet is strongly and dangerously attracting metal objects, would you get close to look at the magnet? or would you look behind you for metal objects coming through??)

-Generic "we move power from system A to system B and that would fix everything!" plans.

-Generic "ok, to fix this part of the ship, someone has to die... I'll sacrifice myself for you guys, go! save yourselves!" altruism moments.

-Almost no character development. They try SO HARD (failing) to make us care about the main character, that when a generic crew member dies, you just don't even care.

-Has almost nothing to do with Cloverfield. And the "explanation" of why cloverfield happened it's just bland... I wish Cloverfield's explanation would still be a mistery.

I really wanted to like this, I really did. I loved Cloverfield and even 10 Cloverfield Lane, but this is just a flop.