'Shadow in the Cloud' Review
R: Language throughout, sexual references, and violence
Runtime: 1 Hr and 23 Minutes
Production Companies: Automatik, Four Knights Film, Endeavor Content, Rhea Films, New Zealand Film Commission, Fulcrum Media Finance, Screen Auckland
Distributors: Vertical Entertainment, Redbox Entertainment
Director: Roseanne Liang
Writers: Roseanne Liang and Max Landis (ew)
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Beulah Koale, Taylor John Smith, Callan Mulvey, Benedict Wall, Bryon Coll, Joe Witkowski, Nick Robinson
Release Date: January 1, 2021
On a stormy night during World War II, a female pilot with top-secret cargo talks her way on board a bomber plane that’s about to take off. The crass all-male crew reluctantly agrees, but their suspicions about her identity and the mysterious cargo quickly grow. Just then, a shadow appears in the clouds — was it the incoming Japanese fleet, or caused by some other sinister stowaway?
Shadow in the Cloud might be one of the most bonkers, no-holds-barred movies I’ve seen this year. After the first act takes off and Maude Garrett is in the bubble turret — away from the mysterious package she was carrying — unexpected, unpredictable twists emerge from every corner. The film combines horror, brainless action, and social commentary set in a WWII bomber plane, though it’s not particularly clever as a whole. Despite how mind-numbingly stupid the movie becomes, I have to give it props for having the confidence to be as unpredictable as it is. It’s definitely a stupid action-thriller, but it stays consistent with its silly tone and gleefully does so much in so little time. Part of the fun is due to Roseanne Liang’s direction as she delivers silly and somewhat exciting action sequences. There’s a sequence in the film where Garrett has to climb out of her turret, which leads her to the outside of the plane. As she’s hanging upside down and making her way to the main engine, she has to survive her enemy’s bullets while her important package is hanging off a ledge. As I said, it’s completely insane.
I usually don’t recommend doing this, but man, don’t watch this movie sober. I knew what I was getting into before I started the film, so I got high with my sister before experiencing the sheer craziness, yet the weed wasn’t strong enough for how stupid Shadow in the Cloud is. But just because I was able to turn off my brain doesn’t mean it’s an enjoyable movie. Roseanne Liang tried her best, but a polished turd is still a turd.
Shadow of the Cloud is dumb. While Liang tried her best to make this weird Frankenstein script work on screen, it never escaped the stench of the original author, Max Landis. Yeah, Max fucking Landis, disgraced screenwriter who has been #MeToo’d (multiple times) on accounts of being a rapist, assaulter, and physical abuser, yet somehow his last project actually got made. Landis has been responsible for plenty of trash projects, such as American Ultra, Victor Frankenstein, and Bright. It feels uncomfortable and disappointing to know that, for her first action feature, Roseanne Liang had to improve upon this solo feminist action flick written by one of the most disgraceful, misogynistic male figures in Hollywood.
The movie starts with Garrett having to endure overbearing sexual remarks in the male-dominated environment she’s thrown into and the manner in which it’s handled is pretty gross. While Garrett is in the bubble turret trying to communicate with her crewmates via intercom, you hear the gross bickering of men detailing how they’d sexually please her. I know that its intention is to make you feel uncomfortable, but you can sense the predictable “hashtag female empowerment” narrative it’s attempting to deliver. You can’t give a shit about any of her crewmates, for they spend so much time either harassing her or gaslighting her, yet you know she’s going to have to save them against the forces that attack. It never feels authentic, especially when crew members (predictably) get axed in front of her and she shows sympathy towards the same men who explicitly discussed how they would have her. It makes the feminist message too muddled.
I don’t like to rag on low-budget indies whenever they try to incorporate CG effects or creatures. They’re often trying their best with what they're given. That being said, the creature designs of these gremlins are so generic. Yes, there are gremlins in this movie. This is made obvious by the cold open that includes a Looney Tunes-style PSA cartoon that informs pilots on what to do when gremlins attack a plane. The gremlins resemble Man-Bat from the Batman series and have the rendering of a PS3-era video game. When the film pits Chloë Grace Moretz against them, you don’t feel the weight of the brawl.
Shadow in the Cloud doesn’t follow any sort of logic whatsoever. If you’re one of those people that can watch anything that outright asks you to be completely braindead and embrace the stupidity, then I commend you. Hell, I love watching fun garbage, which is exactly what this is, but there comes a point where you must draw the line at the lack of logic occurring on screen. Because Shadow of the Cloud throws so much at a wall to see what sticks and fails to commit to any area, you can’t enjoy the stupidity. The film is barely salvaged by Chloë Grace Moretz’s confident and charismatic performance. She commits to the material she’s given and succeeds, proving once again that she can carry an action picture. It’s heavily reminiscent of her performance in Kick-Ass 2, which is a mediocre movie, but she was one of the strongest aspects about it. Shadow in the Cloud shows that Moretz has what it takes to be a badass action star… if she had better material to work with. The same goes for Liang as a filmmaker; she can direct bombastic and exciting action, but I hope she gets to work with comprehensible material in the future.
