Shadow in the Cloud

Before watching this, I looked a bit into those really bad reviews here. So I decided to get the experience myself... And it was quite good. I did like those dialogues over intercom very much. Once in a uniform, some men think they are oblieged to talk...well, like idiots. There's similiar idiotic talk I heard myself during the time I served, decades ago. But the movie isn't about how idiotic men can be, but what a certain group of women can do, if they have to, at least about what we believe they can do. However, the movie continued to surprise me, the climbing scene was completeley captivating, I liked even becoming a bit dizzy...after that I thought 'Why do people hate this movie so much ? - It's just crazy !" (and not ludicruous, of course unrealistic, but nevertheless very effective). People seem to hate the movie because of the supernatural element. And I agree, mostly, that this was just a bad idea, which draws the movie "down" from its potential class, which would be "wartime drama" and is much more respectable than "fantasy action". However, technically there is not much to criticise, camera, cut, direction, music, fx, all decent, and of course, we can see that Chloe is able to singlehandedly carry a movie. So, I give 8 Stars. Wait, 8 ? That's a very good movie in my ranking system - how could that be ? Well, because I did like the freshness and the lighthearted verve of this little gem. And the little thing in the bag ;-)

Chloe Frace Moretz is very good in this role for what she is given to work with and you can definitely tell that she is an actress with a lot of range and potential. Sadly, even her performance cannot hide the poor writing.

I was completely baffled when I saw Max Landis in the writing credits. Maybe that's the reason why some parts of the script was poor.

First things first, if you complain about unbelievable things happening in a movie about gremlins attacking an airplane, you need to have your opinion license permanently revoked.

"Shadow in the Cloud" is obviously meant to be viewed as a simple comic book style rip-roaring WWII adventure to be enjoyed like a cheeseburger or a pint of ice cream and not to be deeply analyzed for plot depth and realism. The hordes of egotists falling over themselves to prove how "above it all" they are need to loosen up and switch to decaff. Yes, absolutely ludicrous things happen in this movie, and that's what makes it fun! Is everyone really so hopped up on dopamine from constantly scrolling through social media that they can't let go and enjoy a zany movie?

Chloe Moretz' performance was captivating and thrilling from start to finish. These are the kind of roles she was born to play and it was clear that she had an absolute blast making the movie. The rest of the cast were clearly there to be functional, forgettable cardboard cutouts, and the energy of the movie would have suffered if they'd been directed to draw attention away from the main character.

I'm confident that in a decade this movie will be found on film lists under the heading "Cult movies that were despised on release". I'd love to see a sequel!

These days, calling something a B-Movie is almost like saying it gets a pass for being a poor film, and while I don't believe that, there are moments in the film Shadow in the Cloud that the filmmakers clearly wanted you to turn your brain off for. I've been a fan of Chloe Grace Moretz as an actress for many years. From her fun roles like Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass or her incredibly committed dramatic performance in Hugo, she showed that her range was capable of going much further. Not knowing anything about this movie, I banked on the lead actress and the premise being fun enough, but I think I got much more than I bargained for. Here's why this film was both great and terrible all at once.

After sneaking on board a plane for mysterious reasons, Maude Garrett (Chloe Grace Moretz) will stop at nothing to protect her classified cargo. Taking place in a single area of the plane for the entirety of the first and second acts, Shadow in the Cloud held my attention very much. Where this film began to lose me was in the very, very over-the-top crew members she had to speak to throughout the film. The level of obnoxiousness was far too much for a movie like this and then the final act hit and it honestly became a completely different movie. It's been a while since I've seen a film switch gears as hard as this one did.

Having just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, I'm trying to wrap my head around how they're even going to market this film to the average moviegoer. For the most part, it takes place in a single location, and when it leaves that location to become a completely different movie, it sort of ruins the shock value of the final act to actually include that stuff in a trailer. Having no idea what this movie was before going in, I must say that I went through numerous emotions throughout. From being invested in the drama in the first act to raising an eyebrow for where it's about to go, to being completely taken out of the movie by the ridiculously over-the-top finale, it's going to be very hard to recommend this one to anyone.

Chloe Grace Moretz gives a damn good performance here, having about 95% of the movie to herself. By the third act, this movie just straight-up becomes a cartoon and I just thought to myself that she is far too good for a movie like this. Maybe the filmmakers knew exactly what movie they were making and knew that they wanted to create some schlock to close out the movie, but Shadow in the Cloud in turn just feels like a bunch of random ideas smashed into one film. I'm truly not sure who the audience for this film will be.

In the end, it's very clear that writer/director Roseanne Liang set out to make some obvious messages throughout the movie, which is what I feel the whole film was going for, but I thought it was way too heavy-handed, especially for the popcorn movie it becomes by the end. The best thing I can say about this film is that the central performance is great and the film is never boring, as it's 83-minute run time does fly by. The problem is that this movie evolves into something that's just too much for itself to handle. I got a huge kick out of certain elements, which is enough for me to give the film a passing grade overall, but it's not a great movie by any means. There are things to have fun with, but the over-the-top nature is simply overdone.

Shadow in the Cloud: Feels like a mix between the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission", The Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and Memphis Belle, with even a homage to Aliens. Maude (Chloe Grace Moretz) hitches a ride on a B-17 going from Auckland to Samoa, she's carrying secret documents but even though she's a WAAF pilot the crew give her a hard time. She has to go into the belly bubble gun-turret for take off but ends up being trapped there. Then a gremlin, a large bat/rat/ape creature appears and starts damaging a wing and attacking her turret, the crew disbelieve her at first. Much of the action is based in the bubble and the outside of the plane, with the airmen only being heard over the intercom until Moretz gets back into the fuselage. It's not just the monster that they have to fear though, Japanese Zeros also attack. The gremlin is quite convincing as are the hand to hand battles with it and the dog fights with the Zeros. Some of the events do require a suspension of disbelief but Moretz literally kicks gremlin, misogynist and Zero ass. A couple of interesting plot twists makes this into an Air Ace scary pulp story. Directed and Co-written by Roseanne Liang. 7/10.