# The Cloverfield Pardox (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262 "2018-02-05T21:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/1 "2018-02-05T21:39:21Z")
So apparently [Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/80134431) did a surprise release after the Super Bowl last night. Not sure what kind of sign that is, but I’m curious to see how this relates to the other 2 films. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/2 "2018-02-05T21:41:22Z")
I haven’t seen the other two, and since I turned it off at about the 40 minute mark, I guess technically I haven’t seen this one either. There were just too many flaws. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/3 "2018-02-05T21:44:28Z")
Thought it was pretty bad. Question: where did the gunpowder come from? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/4 "2018-02-05T22:34:32Z")
Very disappointing. I can understand why Paramount kicked this over to Netflix, it was undeserving of a theatrical release. The Cloverfield stuff was a clumsy addition to a mediocre sf movie and didn’t jibe at all with the story in the first film. Good cast totally wasted. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/5 "2018-02-05T22:45:12Z")
Ah it wasn’t that bad … for a freebie. Or a Netflix-bie. I think it was more like a TV show pilot of some old TV show that never got around to telling the back story. I didn’t think the first Cloverfield was all that spectacular either, but both kept me entertained. The arm guy. It seemed like they threw his comic relief in there last minute. It was too silly for even a monster movie. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/6 "2018-02-05T22:59:49Z")
[The AP reviewed it](https://apnews.com/0c8f34499f0c463899db1d4da2671d5e/Review:-'Cloverfield-Paradox'-desperately-needs-sharpening), and it’s a fairly long and in-depth review. It also isn’t very favorable. > [@](#): > > Netflix surprised nearly everyone by streaming the latest “Cloverfield” film directly after the game. But up against one of TV’s most popular shows — promising an answer to a long-running cliffhanger — was it a terrible miscalculation or an attempt to hide a clunker? > > The answer is a bit of both. Somewhere in “The Cloverfield Paradox” is an excellent sci-fi thriller but one that’s in desperate need of sharpening. It’s no disaster, like Netflix’s recent “Bright,” but it tries too hard to give something to everyone and ends of unsatisfying to everyone. That it had a poorly considered birth is simply its first problem. > [@](#): > > What it really does is nudge aside a potentially fascinating head-warping plot about clashing realities and our responsibility to alternate worlds. That would have been some darn good high-brow sci-fi. But it gets overrun by the appearance of a severed arm, buckets of worms and dodgy eyeballs, which never get explained properly. “Logic doesn’t apply to any of this,” someone says, as if to inoculate the writers from blame. I give a thumbs up to the AP’s Mark Kennedy for his review and a thumbs down to _The Cloverfield Paradox_. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/7 "2018-02-05T23:14:10Z")
In the same vein as the AP, [Slate had a good review of it](https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/the-cloverfield-paradox-on-netflix-reviewed.html) (“good” as in accurate, not in terms of movie quality). In a nutshell, it’s a terrible movie that was destined to be a complete flop, except Netflix pulled a brilliant marketing move with it. > [@](#): > > But Netflix didn’t just polish this turd: They served it up on a silver platter, and had everyone rushing to dig in. There’s a certain thrill in getting there first, but when you’re done, you’re still left with a pile of crap. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/8 "2018-02-06T00:03:26Z")
I will never get those 2 hours of my life back. The only reason I kept watching is because I got bored, read some spoilers online, and wanted to see the Mother-Clover at the end. Which was the highlight of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/9 "2018-02-06T01:31:19Z")
Yeah, it was pretty bad. But it did have the terrific line, _“What are you talking about, arm?”_ ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/10 "2018-02-06T05:20:35Z")
It was horrible. And that’s from someone who liked the previous two films. Random thoughts: [spoiler] • The way the rings rotated was all wrong in which direction the “artificial” gravity was pulling them. Grrrr. • So, I get that that the energies involved with the particle accelerator created a multi-dimensional rift, where they swapped over to a parallel dimension. Okay, fine… But WTF was with a severed arm that knew where the gyroscope was? Like, seriously, wtf?? • The worms, too. It was so stupid. A non-sequitur, like the arm who knew where the gyroscope was. Just… _whyyyyy?_ • The whole thing felt so tacked together from lesser screenplays. It was just a sad, lazy attempt. • And really, all the physics were so wrong. From the instantly frozen water, to the explosive depressurization of what’s-her-name being sucked out to space, to the distance they found themselves away from Earth 2 and having the resources to even get back, to _zoinking_ back to Earth 1 with a stable velocity that the didn’t immediately fall toward the Earth… etc. Just sad. I could probably go on. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/11 "2018-02-06T07:35:00Z")
I tried to watch it. I can’t see a reason to put in any more effort. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/12 "2018-02-06T07:43:33Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Ah it wasn’t that bad … for a freebie. Or a Netflix-bie. I think it was more like a TV show pilot of some old TV show that never got around to telling the back story. I didn’t think the first Cloverfield was all that spectacular either, but both kept me entertained. > > The arm guy. It seemed like they threw his comic relief in there last minute. It was too silly for even a monster movie. Chris O’Dowd is always great for a laugh. “What are you trying to say, arm?” Hah! 🙂 I’ve loved him since “The IT Crowd”. About the movie, I agree it wasn’t that bad. It needed a bit more exposition in my opinion. All in all it didn’t make as much sense as it could have with a better director and script but was I entertained? Yes, yes I was. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/13 "2018-02-06T10:29:42Z")
One more vote for the AP review. Overall - meh to yeah. One chef’s hat with food stains nd smelling of cabbage. Chris O’Dowd was the best of a very ordinary crew. I haven’t seen the other Cloverfields and this probably didn’t help. But neither did the plot. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/14 "2018-02-06T11:58:07Z")
We watched it last night. As somebody said upthread, good cast, crappy script/story. Haven’t seen any of the other Cloverleafs so I have nothing else to base anything on. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/15 "2018-02-06T16:29:14Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Chris O’Dowd is always great for a laugh. “What are you trying to say, arm?” Hah! 🙂 I’ve loved him since “The IT Crowd”. > > About the movie, I agree it wasn’t that bad. It needed a bit more exposition in my opinion. All in all it didn’t make as much sense as it could have with a better director and script but was I entertained? Yes, yes I was. I misquoted Chris O’Dowd’s line in the movie. It was, as **blondebear** stated above, “What are you talking about, arm?” Still funny. 🙂 By the way, what is the explanation, if there can even be one, for how Mina got behind the wall? As much as I can make sense of it, Mina was part of the crew of the other dimension’s Shepard so, somehow, when our dimension’s Shepard entered her dimension her dimension’s Shepard was replaced with ours but shifted a few (a few hundred?) feet, placing her behind the wall. Thoughts? Also, and I know I am probably overthinking what is obviously not a well thought out movie, if our dimension’s Shepard replaced Mina’s dimension’s Shepard, replacing its crew as well, with the exception of other dimension’s Mina and our dimension’s Tam who weren’t part of the opposite dimensions’ crews, how is it that Hamilton exists twice in the same dimension? Wouldn’t her sudden presence on the alternate dimension’s Shepard cause the alternate dimension’s Hamilton to cease to exist, possibly never having existed in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/16 "2018-02-06T16:40:03Z")
The sad thing is that there was a cool movie in there somewhere. The idea that a particle accelerator would cause an interdimensional rift is silly, but I could buy it for the movie’s sake. But there werre far too many inconsistencies and stuff that didn’t make sense. Why did the interdimensional rift hack off the arm and how was the arm sentient? What was up with the Russian guy’s eye? The whole thing had JJ “Let’s just throw out a bunch of random weird stuff without bothering to explain it or go back to it” Abrams fingerprints all over it. Very reminiscent of a cheaper Prometheus. Did like the adult Cloverfield monster at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/17 "2018-02-07T01:32:20Z")
As surprising as it is to me, this movie has been stuck in my head since I watched it. Something about it has caused me to want…more, so late this afternoon I rewatched the original Cloverfield and, after sitting through almost an hour and a half of found-footage (ugh) and shaky cam (double-ugh), in the last scene with the couple on the ferris wheel at Coney Island you see Hamilton’s shuttle from Paradox drop into the surf. There. That’s the tie-in! It also strongly suggests that activating the hadron collider aboard the Shepard precipitated the rift that caused a clashing together of multiple, perhaps many, dimensions (or universes if you like), just one of which contained the Kaiju that now occupy the same space with us, and can also explain the appearance of the aliens in 10 Cloverfield Lane. I’m a little more intrigued with this movie now, especially knowing that “Cloverfield 4: Overlord” will be released soon. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/18 "2018-02-07T01:36:25Z")
I’m 50 minutes in…and I like it. You can tell this was made/planned NOT as a Cloverfield movie and that people(Abrams, etc.) got involved and helped turn it into a Cloverfield movie. Still, it’s not bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/19 "2018-02-07T02:03:58Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > …in the last scene with the couple on the ferris wheel at Coney Island you see Hamilton’s shuttle from Paradox drop into the surf. Yeah, right after Beth says “I had a good day.” Little did she know! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262/20 "2018-02-07T04:00:07Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > As surprising as it is to me, this movie has been stuck in my head since I watched it. Something about it has caused me to want…more, so late this afternoon I rewatched the original Cloverfield and, after sitting through almost an hour and a half of found-footage (ugh) and shaky cam (double-ugh), in the last scene with the couple on the ferris wheel at Coney Island you see Hamilton’s shuttle from Paradox drop into the surf. There. That’s the tie-in! It also strongly suggests that activating the hadron collider aboard the Shepard precipitated the rift that caused a clashing together of multiple, perhaps many, dimensions (or universes if you like), just one of which contained the Kaiju that now occupy the same space with us, and can also explain the appearance of the aliens in 10 Cloverfield Lane. > > I’m a little more intrigued with this movie now, especially knowing that “Cloverfield 4: Overlord” will be released soon. That couldn’t be the case, since the footage at the fair was weeks or months before Clovie’s first rampage in NYC. By the time the capsule in this movie plunges into the water, the Earth has already been getting pummeled by Clovies for hours/days. But I agree it’s set in the same universe/timeline as the first Cloverfield movie. And that’s another thing. This Clovie broke through the cloud cover that the capsule plunged through. That’s gotta be miles up. Clovie was big, but not that big. No bigger than a skyscraper at least. I also agree with **Larry Borgia** — there was a good sci-fi movie in there, they just couldn’t nail it down. I’ve read it was a screenplay originally named _God Particle_ that they shoehorned Cloverfield into, and probably re-wrote it until it made no sense. But it could’ve been had someone taken more care. I’d be curious to read the original screenplay, my guess is it was a tighter story before it was meddled with. I loved the idea of ripping a hole into spacetime with a mega-particle accelerator. One that does freaky shit to reality. But it would have to add up logically. This didn’t add up or make any sense. The worms and the gyroscope materialized into one of the crewmembers? Fine, okay. But who was he talking to in his head, after his crazy eyes? I’m guessing he merged with the other version of himself and knew the german was a spy. But if so, it wasn’t illustrated well. And worse, why did the wall swallow and cut off Chris O’Dowd’s arm? How the hell was it sentient and moving on its own? How would it know the gyro was in the other dude? That really just doesn’t add up at all. What should’ve been great and compelling events just ended up infuriating. I do look forward to more Cloverfield films, but this was a big letdown for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cloverfield-pardox-open-spoilers/808262.md?page=2)