The Cloverfield Paradox is out on Netflix now. Its release was quite a surprise since Netflix made it available worldwide without any warning or promotion. It was originally titled God Particle before it was revealed to be Cloverfield 3. You’ll want to watch this one ASAP!

The Cloverfield Paradox is the third installment in the Cloverfield universe. It was originally called God Particle, but from the very beginning, there was speculation that this was, in fact, Cloverfield 3. And now it’s out on Netflix worldwide instead of theatrical release.

All we expected was a trailer during the 2018 Super Bowl commercial breaks, but instead, we got a teaser and were told The Cloverfield Paradox would be out on Netflix in a matter of hours.

While 10 Cloverfield Lane came as a surprise with just weeks of promotion before theatrical release, this was quite different. We pretty much knew God Particle was part of the Cloverfield franchise. It’s hard to keep these things under wraps when the same people get together for a third project after the two first resulted in a Cloverfield movie.

Watch the trailer for The Cloverfield Paradox (aka God Particle aka Cloverfield 3) right here – or continue reading our review below.

Cloverfield in Space

While the two first Cloverfield movies took place on Earth, most of The Cloverfield Paradox is in space. We do follow a few people on Earth as well, but for at least 80% of the movie, we’re onboard an International Space Station.

Also, yes, this movie takes place before and during the first Cloverfield movie. This is revealed in the trailer for Cloverfield 3, so not exactly a spoiler.

We have a wonderfully diverse group of characters in space to save the energy crisis on our planet. More wars are constantly about to erupt due to this energy crisis (called “The Oil Wars”).

The job of the space station is to get a particle accelerator called “The Shepherd” working, so we can have an unlimited energy resource. However, the particle accelerator is so powerful that it cannot be tested on Earth. Hence the space travel mission on a space station called “Cloverfield”.

Some speculate that the accelerator is so powerful that even testing it is like playing God. The possible repercussions are called “The Cloverfield Paradox” and include tearing the very fabric of space and time.

Of course, things do go very wrong, but maybe not in the way you expect!

The Cloverfield Paradox Review

No bad guys in The Cloverfield Paradox

I realize some may disagree with me, but I don’t feel there are any actual villains in The Cloverfield Paradox. Everyone is fighting for their own truth and future. Some fight for egotistical and personal reasons while others “simply” try to save the entire planet.

And, of course, there are issues with people in the crew since their respective nations are threatening one another with war back on Earth. It’s not in some silly dramatic way, but rather very human and realistic reactions.

The diversity among the crew members is pretty damn wonderful and two languages are spoken throughout the movie. Okay, mostly it’s English, but otherwise, it’s Mandarin. Everyone on board seems to speak – or at least understand – both languages.

Much like we’ve just seen in Altered Carbon – read our review of Altered Carbon season 1 here >

Also, there might not be monsters in Cloverfield 3 to the extent we’ve seen in the two previous movies. However, there are plenty of creepy and nasty scenes. Since most of the movie takes place onboard a space station, a comparison to Life is hard to avoid.

Still, the two are nothing alike so don’t worry about that, if you didn’t care for Life (we loved it).

And yes, you will also think of Alien while watching this. But again, this is an entirely different beast of a movie!

A brilliant cast

The cast is one of the most international I can remember seeing in a movie. Not that everyone is playing their own nationality, but close.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the primary protagonist. She’s British and does also portray a British character. Gugu Mbatha-Raw rose to international fame with the San Junipero episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror.

Daniel Brühl portrays a German character and while he is known as a German actor, he was actually born in Barcelona, Spain. You may recognize Daniel Brühl from Captain America: Civil War or Inglourious Basterds.

Aksel Hennie is a Norwegian actor, who plays a Russian astronaut. He definitely has some of the creepier scenes in The Cloverfield Paradox. Not because he’s Russian, but simply because he’s very unfortunate.

John Ortiz (Kong: Skull Island) is an American actor, but he portrays a Brazilian astronaut. Meanwhile, British actor David Oyelowo continues his success of portraying American characters. He’s the Captain of the Cloverfield space station. And Chris O’Dowd (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) from Ireland portrays an Irish astronaut.

Finally, there’s Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). She’s from China and does also portray a Chinese character, who speaks Mandarin throughout the movie.

Actually, there is one more astronaut called Mina Jensen, which sounds very Danish, but her nationality is never confirmed. She’s portrayed by Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager), who was born in Paris, France, but grew up in Melbourne, Australia.

The Cloverfield Paradox Review

Another newcomer director

The movie was written by Doug Jung (Star Trek: Beyond) and Oren Uziel (Freaks of Nature). And, once again, this latest Cloverfield movie was directed by a relative newcomer, Julius Onah.

The original Cloverfield was directed by Matt Reeves, who had done plenty of TV shows but only one feature film before making Cloverfield. Since then, he has gone on to make Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes.

10 Cloverfield Lane (Cloverfield 2) was directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who has only made two short films and a single episode of a TV series. Since then he has directed the Playtest episode of Black Mirror season 3. The same season featuring Gugu Mbatha-Raw in another episode.

Who is Julius Onah?

Julius Onah directed The Cloverfield Paradox and he does a stellar job. Julius Onah has directed a whole slew of short films, but just one feature prior to this one.

He was born in Nigeria but lives in New York now and was educated in the United States as well. In 2008 he wrote and directed a short film in Poland. And in 2011, he did the same in Denmark. I’m Danish, so I had to mention that. But really, I just wanted to point out that he’s used to working with lots of different nationalities.

The Cloverfield Paradox is quite different to the other Cloverfield movies, but that’s a strength of the movies in this franchise. Also, it connects the dots of the two previous movies.

As much as I do love Netflix releasing this, it definitely would have been awesome to watch this on a big screen. It deserved that!

Details

Director: Julius Onah
Writers: Oren Uziel, Doug Jung
Cast: Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Brühl, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O’Dowd, Ziyi Zhang, David Oyelowo, John Ortiz, Aksel Hennie, Roger Davies

Plot

After a scientific experiment aboard the space station involving a particle accelerator has unexpected results, the astronauts find themselves isolated. Following their horrible discovery, the space station crew must fight for survival.

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!
Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard
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