Year of Release: 2020
Director: Roseanne Liang
Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Beulah Koale, Taylor John Smith, Callan Mulvey, Benedict Wall, Byron Coll, Joe Witkowski
Genre: Action, Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
"Shadow in the Cloud" had a fairly infamous start, as one of the credited writers of the script is Max Landis, who has been involved in all matters of bad conduct towards women since 2017, and whose name at least in the producing aspect of this feature was removed, as everyone tried to distance themselves from those issues. The film takes place in 1943 and focuses on RAF Pilot Officer Maude Garrett, who is assigned to travel with a top secret package from Auckland to Samoa. The team on the plane she's in treats her harshly and she soon finds herself in the ball turret for the takeoff. She refuses to separate herself from her package but has no other option. Maude notices a few things while in her confined space, firstly Japanese aircrafts, and secondly a winged creature, a gremlin of sorts that is clinging to one of the bomber's wing. She reports all of this but no one takes her seriously, and are extra vicious towards her. As it turns out, the Japanese aircrafts do attack, and Maude has to open fire in order to defend the bomber. She also drops her fake identity, and reveals herself to be American, while the cargo she's carrying is an unexpected one for everyone on the plane. However the gremlin attacks are not done, and the crew is soon fighting for their lives.
The script for this film tries to be a lot of things, a mix of monster film with WWII war traces, all wrapped in a feminist type of narrative, which makes for a concoction that is everything but coherent. Part of the problem is the fact that the film's tone is undecided, since while seemingly aiming for tense thriller vibes, it almost plays itself as a "Grindhouse" type of feature. The co-writer and director Roseanne Liang, mentioned she was inspired by James Cameron's "Aliens". And while both films do have a female central character, that's where all similarities end. "Shadow in the Cloud" is populated by an array of characters who actually have no discernible traits, and at some point most of the crew just feels like a big roaring misogynistic loudmouth of sorts. As for the central heroine, aside from the veil of secrecy she initially carries, once that is dropped, there isn't much to her. Her transition from wannabe Keira Knightley damsel to MacGyver of the air, to finally Rambo on land, is nonsensical and feels completely gratuitous. There isn't anything wrong with films playing to certain narrative extremes in order to elicit a response from their audiences, but this film tries to hit all the keys that is playing in the highest note possible, and eventually what happens is that everything becomes noise. Chloe Grace Moretz a talented actress who typically chooses interesting material, tries her best to create this wartime version of Ripley, but she feels trapped in the wrong film, whereas the supporting cast has basically nothing to do. The production team is fairly solid, with highlights going to Kit Fraser's cinematography, Gary Mackay's production design, and Kristin Seth's costume design. It's one of those features that is best to just ignore.
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