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Cloverfield 1, 2, & 3 -- a review


Netflix gave us a special surprise right after the Superbowl ended when they premiered Cloverfield: Paradox, the third in the SF/Horror anthology film series that got started ten years ago with the original Cloverfield. I’ve recently read that there’s now a fourth Cloverfield film on the horizon. Can’t wait to see that one, but lets take a look at the first three:


Cloverfield: Paradox takes place aboard a space station in the somewhat distant future. Humanity is on the brink of an all-out war over the last dwindling reserves of oil, with people waiting on lines that stretch for blocks just to gas up (much like the gas lines of the 1970s). The Cloverfield space station is testing a gizmo that will supposedly end the energy crisis, but once they get it running, the device transports the station to another universe, where they find the Earth is missing and an extra crew member (played by Elizabeth Debicki) in the wall of their space station. Awkward!


Even weirder stuff starts happening, like when Chris O’Dowd’s arm gets cut off, but he barely notices it until it’s pointed out to him. And then the film just gets very silly when the severed arm--which is still alive and well, thanks very much--starts writing notes on where the crew can find stuff. O’Dowd even says, straight-faced: “Hey guys, check out my arm. I think my arm is trying to write something.” And that was pretty much when the movie turned into a flat-out comedy for me.



The scuttlebutt is that Paramount, which produced Cloverfield: Paradox, sold the film to Netflix because they thought it had problems and wanted to avoid a costly theatrical run for what would likely be a box office bomb. Paramount was very smart. Cloverfield: Paradox, isn’t. You don’t introduce a concept as far out as a still-living severed arm (that winds up being smarter than any of the characters) that offers helpful tips and then just dump it once its serves its purpose as a deus ex machina. The movie is filled with big ideas that either have no payoff, or are not further explored properly. And in spite of having a great cast, the characterizations fall short. Also, the shoe-horned attempts to link this film to the first Cloverfield just feels tacked on (reportedly there was some reshooting involved here).


But I have to admit that, despite its problems, I still enjoyed Cloverfield: Paradox--just probably not in the way its creators had intended. If I saw this in a theater I probably would have hated it, but seeing it on Netflix, warts and all, made me forgive its faults. So having it premiere there was probably a good idea after all. And I think that Netflix showing more big-budget genre films is a trend that should continue.



Speaking of the original Cloverfield, I re-watched this right after seeing Paradox. And while it’s ten years old and shot in the shaky-camera style of the found-footage trend, Cloverfield still stands the test of time admirably. Its director, Matt Reeves, who would go onto bigger and even better things, helms this movie with a sure hand as we follow a group of sympathetic twenty-somethings through a horrifying night of watching New York City being attacked by a giant monster.


Yes, it’s a big-monster movie that’s inspired by the Godzilla films, something which the filmmakers freely admit to in the special features on the DVD. But the found-footage format re-invents this genre by showing the monster invasion from the ground-level view of a group of friends who are all just trying to escape--and this point of view gives the proceedings a far more intimate, and terrifying, feel. Cloverfield is one of the better big-monster movies that should be seen by fans (and even non-fans) of that genre.



10 Cloverfield Lane is my favorite of all three Cloverfield films. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead in a superbly claustrophobic thriller as a woman named Michele who wakes up after a car crash to find herself in an underground bunker. The always great John Goodman co-stars as Howard, who built the bunker, as well as having rescued Michelle--and who tells her that she can’t leave because humanity has come under attack by an unknown force and the very air outside is poison.

Director David Trachtenberg does a marvelous job at turning this into a great cat and mouse suspense film as Michelle struggles to find out if Howard is telling the truth, or if she’s the captive of a psychopath. Winstead is the standout here as her initially mousey character rises to the occasion to stand up for herself. Winstead's is a strong performance within a well-drawn out character arc in an edge-of-your-seat film that’s highly recommended. Be sure to bring a copy of 10 Cloverfield Lane with you into your bunker. --SF


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