It's been 3 days since I wrote my review of The Cloverfield Paradox. During that time, I have heard countless people tell me they hated it, many social media posts have blasted it, the Rotten Tomato critics' score has dropped to a 16%... and I have grown to love the experience even more.
I believe the fourth in the series was already made seven years ago.
In my review, I mentioned that for me, the Cloverfield franchise is much more than a set of four movies (yes I wrote "four" and I don't mean the upcoming sequel). It is an experience. A big part of this experience has been the "ninja" marketing and the Alternate Reality Game that has accompanied each film.
Ninja marketing
Back in 2008, as I settled into my seat to see The Transformers, a preview for a then untitled movie appeared on the screen. Thanks to the fact that there was absolutely no press about the movie, along with the fact it did not even have a title yet, I had no idea what I was looking at.
Naturally, I assumed it would be a Godzilla remake. I was intrigued and made a mental note to keep an eye out for more information. After discussing the preview with some buddies, we argued over whether or not one of the characters had said "I saw it. It's a lion. It's huge!" or "I saw it. It's alive. It's huge!"
That is where the mystery began. Was it about a giant lion attacking New York? Would Godzilla fight a giant lion?
As each new television trailer surfaced, so did more and more questions. Although my friends and I had fun discussing the possibilities, none of us chose to dig too deeply into the internet in order to find our answers. We were all too worried that we would uncover spoilers that would ruin our fun. So we argued like idiots backed up by absolutely no facts and counted down the days until the opening night. We were so afraid of spoilers that we knew we had to see it before anyone else could ruin it.
Paramount and Bad Robot had done it. They had whipped my friends and I up into a geektastic frenzy based on very calculated teases in the previews.
When opening night finally came, even though we all hated the shaky camera effect, my friends and I all loved Cloverfield. After the movie, we went to a bar and talked about our outrageous theories. Was this a new Godzilla? Was it an alien? How about Cthulu? Had we all seen the object fall into the ocean at the end? Is that where the monster came from?
That is where the experience really started. The conversations leading up to actually seeing the film were fun... but the ones after were some of the geekiest I have ever been involved in. I was in heaven.
After a couple of hours of swapping outrageous theories, I went home. No longer afraid of finding any spoilers, I started to scour the internet for evidence to back up my theory and destroy my friends' ideas. That is when I found the ARG... but that is for a post all its own.
By dropping out of the blue like it had, Cloverfield whipped my friends and I into such a frenzy that we couldn't wait to see the movie and then couldn't stop talking about it after we had.
If you haven't already, pay special attention to the very end of movie. When it cuts to the video of Rob and Beth on a date, pay attention to the background.
But that was a one time deal. There was no way a studio could pull that off again. My friends and I aren't idiots.
Or so we thought.
Paramount and Bad Robot did it again. They hid the production of another Cloverfield movie from the public for almost two years. The studio revealed it less than two months prior to its release via a trailer preceding another Michael Bay film: 13 Hours.
Even though I was a Cloverfield fanatic, eight years after its release, I had given up hope of the story ever continuing. When my buddy texted me to tell me he had seen a preview for a new Cloverfield movie, I thought he was joking. But sure enough, as I typed "C-l-o-v-e-r-f..." into Youtube's search field, the trailer appeared. I watched it at least 10 times. I studied every detail.
During those eight years in-between movies, something changed. Thanks to discovering the ARG after that night at the bar with my buddies, I had grown to realize that there were no spoilers to be found online. But there were a lot clues to a puzzle that lead to even more clues. During the weeks leading up to 10 Cloverfield Lane I consumed as much information about it as I could. The experience had continued.
Bravo Paramount and Bad Robot. You fooled me once again. But I vowed it would never happen again.
That's it! Twice is enough. You will never catch me off guard again!
And then the Super Bowl happened.
As the trailer began, I screamed "shut up" to a room full of my friends. But these were not my geeky friends. They were "regular" people. Regular people who now thought I was crazier than ever. But I didn't care. I had not heard of this movie (again). I quickly took out my phone and searched "Cloverfield Paradox".
Just when I thought Abrams couldn't be any more of a ninja, he took things to another level. Not only did he drop this Cloverfield movie out of the blue (again), it would be available as soon as the game ended. Now that is NINJA!
This is NOT the exact preview I saw. In the Midwest, the preview ended with "coming soon to Netflix" not "only on Netflix tonight". So it looks like I was lucky enough to get double Ninjaed.
Although I wanted to watch it immediately after the game, I was simply too tired. I did not want the experience to be ruined. Then my wife told me she wanted to watch it with me but couldn't until two nights after it was available. Two nights?! Was she crazy? How would I deal with the anticipation?
But the anticipation turned out to be fun. It allowed me to look into the new elements in the ARG. It provided me time to check my notes on the previous two movies (yes I have notes). It added to the over all Cloverfield experience.
This is why I keep finding new reasons to love The Cloverfield Paradox despite the fact I am nearly completely alone in this opinion. This ten year long experience has been so much fun for me.
Spoiler alert
While many were confused or annoyed by the fact that The Cloverfield Paradox seems to have been retrofitted to be a Cloverfield movie, I love it. Thanks to the Shepard particle accelerator "ripping open the membrane of space-time” and "smashing together multiple dimensions", ANYTHING is possible. The events of the three previous Cloverfield movies can all be connected now. It also paves the way for an unlimited amount of new stories set in the past, present and future.
I had heard that Abrams wanted to create a Cloverfield anthology similar to The Twilight Zone. Now he can.
Imagine if all of the Twilight Zone episodes had one common thread tying them all together. What if the monster that William Shatner sees on the wing of his plane is also the creature that gave 6 year old Anthony Fremont god-like powers?
Perhaps my favorite part of The Cloverfield Paradox is that it makes it possible for Super 8 to be the first chapter in the Cloverfield experience. I have always believed this to be the case. Even when Abrams himself vehemently denied the connection, I always said, "You're a tricky bastard. I'm not falling for one of your tricks you trickster".
Kelvin gas stations don't seem to exist outside of the Cloverfield universe. Guess what is served inside this Kelvin gas station... Slusho!
Now that space and time have been ripped open, of course the existence of the Kelvin gas station and Slusho indicate that Super 8 takes place in the same universe that has been impacted by the Shepard particle accelerator.
Heck, maybe Captain Kirk is from this universe as well.
One thing is for sure. I am very happy I'm already married. I don't know how I will ever get this stench of pure geekiness off of me. In case you didn't know, pure geekiness happens to be the most perfect girl-repellent ever devised.
...and I'm not even done.
I still need to write about the Alternate Reality Game that accompanies these movies.
Oh man if steemit were around ten years ago, I don't think I would have ever slept. I would have written about Cloverfield 24/7.