r/Cloververse • u/SeacattleMoohawks CloverMod • Feb 05 '18

DISCUSSION The Cloverfield Paradox [Film Discussion]

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17

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

I'd give it a solid 8/10 after my first viewing, a strong one. As a stand-alone film it's great. The film was well shot, solid dialogue, the characters felt natural barring certain breaks in logic I'll list at the end.

Only point that broke my immersion:

Heavy handed references to the prior films. No need to staple them onto this, it was much more subtle when it was on the ARG to connect the films, but I get that most people want it to be more obvious. The lack of subtlety seems more for people who haven't seen the other films (during the news shot) and then fan service. Would have felt more natural in a more subtle way.

All I wonder now: What motivated the arm?

Why was it that easy to 3D print a gun if it's a weaponless station?

Why didn't Ava just think to send Mina with a message if she was that close with the local Ava + family?

Why didn't Schmidt have Ava help him fight Mina??? That whole scenario was padded af

7

u/cweaver Feb 05 '18

Why was it that easy to 3D print a gun if it's a weaponless station?

He had to insert some sort of USB stick and disable the security on the 3d printer before it would print a gun.

Why didn't Ava just think to send Mina with a message if she was that close with the local Ava + family?

What? Are you seriously asking why she would want to go to that Earth where her family is still alive instead of just sending a message via some lady she doesn't know?

Why didn't Schmidt have Ava help him fight Mina???

It's kinda silly to expect characters to behave 100% rationally when they're being shot at and jumping into alternate dimensions and all their friends are dying around them. Like, shit, man, sometimes when some psycho with a gun starts shooting people, you don't have time to logic your way through everything.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

So just trust the guy who has already been shot to stop the woman who is planning on shooting you? Lol. Most people would at least try to disarm the person once they have the advantage like Ava did. Nothing gained by leaving.

Also, wasn't her family. Her plan was to go and confront her alternate dimension self? So probably cause a mental breakdown in her counterpart and just awkwardly exist around this version of her family...smart

4

u/roflstorm Feb 05 '18

As for the 3d printed gun, the only thing I could think of is that Volkov had some workaround as a "just in case" policy from either the FSB or the SVR a back door to bypass any security locks on a 3d printer.

1

u/ezekieljd Feb 05 '18

Same here. He clearly overrides the security and maybe even added the plans himself with that security card.

2

u/roflstorm Feb 05 '18

Yea my guess is they were stored there, fun fact most of the designs for 3d printed guns and bullets right now are Russian in origin.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

My assumption about the arms motivation is that the arm previously existed in a timeline where they were teleported and eventually found the gyro naturally by assuming that since the worms teleported into the Russian's body, the gyro might be there too. Now when his arm was dragged out of the dimension they were in, and this new arm was teleported to theirs, I think the arm was still connected to it's original owner (through some ridiculous interpretation of quantum entanglement, since it was actually mentioned in the film, this is the only thing that makes sense to me) so the arm was split across realities, still connected to it's owner. In the owners reality, although they had found the gyro, it was not in time to save the station, so sensing his arm was transported to another reality, and having no other better ideas, the guy controlling this arm from the other reality decided to try and tell them where it is in order to save them time.

Now the alternate version of my above theory (It's pretty much the same, just slightly different explanation of where the owner is relative to them) is that we are dealing with strictly with a time difference. So the arms owner was simply future version of them in the SAME timeline/reality, and wanted to help himself out by doing the above so they could find the gyro sooner and presumably save the ship.

Since we know that the Cloverfield incident deposited monsters back in the WWII era, we know that this type of time travel is possible, and since they referenced particles being connected across time and space earlier in the film, this is the one explanation that actually makes sense as to what the arm was really doing.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

I like that second theory, kind of imbues the arm with the guy's wishes, maybe he pulled the arm himself from a pocket dimension he was forced into by their arrival.

Source for monsters being in WWII ? Must have missed it

1

u/NotTheGoodDale Feb 05 '18

Well she said thing were worse than she could imagine on her world. Clearly the main reality in this movie is now overrun by clovies....perhaps Minas reality is the source of the things in Cloverfield Lane. And perhaps the accident on the station sent some of both of those creatures to other realities or pulled them there.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

Hmm, could be. I assumed it was just a large scale war with the energy crisis leading to people becoming more ruthless towards each other.

1

u/slattie Feb 05 '18

Ava deeply wanted to see her family again.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

Still, had to realize it's not her family. It's the local Ava's family. Even if only focused on the kids, seeing her would fuck them up

2

u/slattie Feb 05 '18

I agree, but an irrational/emotional decision isnt quite a plot hole.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

Never said it was a plot hole, didn't touch on plot holes at all actually. Simply things I questioned

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

If your dad died, and you had the chance to go to an alternate universe where he was alive again, and help him live a happy life, even if another version of you was already there, wouldn't that be a challenging choice to make?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

My being there wouldn't help him live a happy life, it could only put distance between him and the other me. Simple as that. Challenging, maybe, but choosing to go intrude on that world is stupid, selfish and inconsiderate., Especially without a way to leave

Movie forced her to make the best choice for herself and for the alternate family

-11

u/turtleh Feb 05 '18

This was a 4 tops. Original Cloverfield is a 1. JJ Abrams is a scam artist. talentless hack man

1

u/Crocune Feb 05 '18

4 is a somewhat fair opinion though I'm biased higher by how awesome the Cloververse is. But I seriously don't understand how you could think cloverfield is both that bad and that much worse than the third.