Shadow In The Cloud (2021) Review

I really enjoy Shadow In The Cloud but I'm not supposed to. Deemed Cinema Non-Grata by a derisory majority, currently holding a 4.9 on IMDb and a 2.1 score on Google with hundreds of extra-salty 1-Star reviews, it's a 'certified' stinker (and since it came out on New Year's Day, with no competition, it got the esteem of being the Worst Film Of The Year in record time). But what I get out of it is an inspired, funny, tense, and unblushingly ridiculous bash - there's a fist-fight with a gremlin on the same beach Jane Campion filmed The Piano. C'mon!

  Consider it my Guiltless Pleasure since I don't praise it with any sarcastic irony or reluctance. In fact, what I don't like about it is quick and easy to point at: the cgi at the end is hideously janky and subtracts from what should be an otherwise fun climax. It's weird considering the effects up to this point were great; done by the wizards at WETA Digital, who are also responsible for the effects in War For The Planet Of The Apes (which has, to date, the best CGI I've ever seen).

  There's also a slightly didactic thorn here and there but it makes sense since the original script was written by Max Landis who was accused of abuse by multiple women. So, since this is a movie with a female lead, directed by a woman, it'd make sense that the reshaping of the script would sometimes feel like damage control.

  That's pretty much it for any negatives, now I can holster my damning finger and point my Ebert Thumb toward God cuz we got nowhere to go but up from here. There's an infamous scene that everyone points to, since it's the most ridiculous one, and they call it ridiculous with scorn...as if it's trying to be anything but. I could use my energy to hate this moment or to laugh with it and I find myself a lot happier doin' the latter. And this isn't a conscious choice, either: I laughed when I saw it the first time and I laugh when I see it now, involuntarily.

  The scene in question: our heroine falls out of the plane and while we're holding our breath for her to impossibly survive the fall, she's blown back into the plane by another plane's explosion. Stupid? Sure, but it's also fucking fun. If you don't find this scene funny, fine, it's not your sense of humor. But to call this pulpy war serial 'dumb' and cite the so-called lack of 'physics' or realism as evidence is what's ridiculous to me. When told that Brody shooting the oxygen tank wouldn't result in a huge explosion at the end of Jaws, Spielberg essentially shrugged and said he didn't care. He knew that cinematic spectacle meant more than capturing 'real life.'

   The movie opens with an ACME Corporation-style cartoon and never loses that spirit. Chloe Grace Moretz is perfectly cast, too; she finds the complicated balance that this kind of tonal melange commands and never steps wrong. Her fake british accent has been another source of criticism but that's the -character- failing to do one, not Chloe, so: try again. Eeryone plays earnest, no vamping the camera or sly winks; this is high-stakes shit to these cartoon characters.

  It's also impressive since she's all we see for roughly 50 minutes; the movie locks us in the Sperry Turret of a war plane with her and we only hear everyone else, offscreen. This has been ANOTHER source of criticism but it was a welcome surprise for me; it's effectively disorienting and hermetic, the tension never leaves until the credits roll. A 'gremlin' being a pass-the-buck excuse for soldiers fucking up is transformed, here, as a woman deals with a real, tangible gremlin and the men around her boxing her in as 'hysterical.' It's inspired and effective. But, again, I'm not supposed to say that.

  Fine, I relent: this movie sucks.

A-