The latest movie in the ‘Cloverfield’ franchise made a surprise drop during the Super Bowl.
But it’s more fumble than touchdown.
What a splendid hustle theseCloverfieldmovies are!
Credit: Scott Garfield/Netflix
We talk less about these specific films than the advertised promise of theCloverfieldbrand.
On Sunday,The Cloverfield Paradoxwas announced in a commercial during the Super Bowl.
A few Boston-demoralizing hours later, it was streaming.
The sudden arrival was hailed as boundary-busting, a way of cutting through the usual Hollywood system.
In fact,Paradoxis a product of multiple systems.
Also: A Super Bowl media buy costs more than some Best Picture nominees.
A counternarrative started to take hold.
Had the studio dumpedParadox?
Its not revolutionary for a bad film to skip theaters.
And Paramount releasedBaywatchon the big screen, so how bad couldParadoxbe?
Most bad space horror movies give each character one recognizable character trait.Paradoxhas many characters, few traits.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is mourning her children, which is all anyone does in space afterGravityandInterstellar.
Chris ODowd is Irish, so he keeps joking even after he loses his arm.
The arm reappears as a separate character, the films one note of ghoulish delight.
When the arm reappears, it has a mind of its own, so that makes one brain onboard.
God help anyone coming to this movie looking for solutions to lingeringCloverfieldmysteries.
In summation: Monsters from where?
Space dimensions, thats what!
The cruel paradox ofThe Cloverfield Paradoxis that its fun to discuss everything about the movie except the movie.
But Im also drawn to Roger Davies earthbound Michael.
He texts some people.
He calls some other people.
It reminds me of the most haunting moment from the originalCloverfield.
Everyone remembers the head of Lady Liberty, flung decapitated onto a Manhattan street corner.
Thats the money shot from the trailer.
Thats a moment of pure cinematic poetry.
