New Release Review - Shadow in the Cloud

Another movie originally slated for release in 2020 pushed back to 2021, the New Zealand-produced, Chloë Grace Moretz-starring Shadow in the Cloud finally got a theatrical release this January. With a trailer that looked so ludicrously over-the-top that it could have been awesome, I was utterly giddy as I took a bus to Hoyts that Wednesday morning. That giddiness didn’t last long.

So this movie, directed by Rosanne Liang from a script by her and serial rapist Max Landis, concerns Maude, a female delivery pilot who takes a mysterious package with her on a flight from an army base filled with angry men. While the flight goes on, she begins to notice disturbing signs of a creature on the plane, and eventually must fight for her life. It’s a basic story.

This premise has been covered before, most notably in the Twilight Zone episode “Terror at 50,000 feet” and its subsequent Simpsons parody. Putting a more social commentary-focused spin on it, along with a more schlocky aesthetic, could have been a great idea…if the movie was good.

I’d say that the first half of this movie is okay-to-good, never amazing. It’s one claustrophobic location in the plane with only Moretz acting her heart out, as we see her trying to protect her package, figure out what’s going on and dealing with the catcalls from the other men in the plane. It has some pretty great moments of tension, and Moretz is really trying in this movie.

The film also attempts to provide some commentary on the treatment of women back then, with the movie arguably becoming the most intense not when the creature shows up, but when Moretz is trying to ignore the men’s catcalls and focus on discovering what the hell is happening. While not explored in a subtle way at all, this aspect of the movie could help win over audience members who aren’t that interested in the surrounding schlockfest, and maybe generate some cult appeal.

But after that opening act, this movie becomes unforgivably bad. It’s clear the filmmakers didn’t have the budget to fully pull off what they wanted to do, as some of the set-pieces just look ludicrously bad with awful green screen. It doesn’t help that the movie is set in the quietest airplane imaginable, with even the scenes where the hull is breached merely sounding like a small car is passing by on the road.

The second half transfers so shockingly from tense Twilight Zone episode to B-movie action that it feels like whiplash to watch. Suddenly, everything is flying around the screen and crazy, awful-looking, physics-ravaging stuff is happening, combined with a very inappropriate EDM score, to the extent where I almost got up and left.

I’m serious, it became that bad. I wasn’t even tempted to walk out of Cats.

After the film finished (at a merciful 80-minute length), I took a bit of a walk, and I reflected on it a bit. I came to the conclusion that Shadow in the Cloud could become the Event Horizon of 2021.

What I mean is that like the movie Event Horizon (which I’ve also reviewed here), it’s a movie which will gain a certain cult appeal and re-appreciation despite initially frosty reception from audiences. People will come to really like its concept and that opening act, even though the rest of the movie is garbage. Hell, Shadow in the Cloud even has a sudden twist villain return near the end like Event Horizon.

So maybe go see it for that possibility of a cult watch. But if you came for quality, apply elsewhere. This is a sad misfire of a movie which could have been so much better.

I’m giving Shadow in the Cloud a D+.

Have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think of it? Leave your answers in the comments below.