I mean if that's your bag, you'll probably like it. It won't live in my memory, but I applaud Kiwi director Roseanne Liang for giving it a red hot go and getting Chloe Grace Moritz involved who totally carries the picture, which I'm sure didn't have a huge budget. And that's really not a problem. The film looks good. It's just that there are so many wild ideas thrown into a storyline with expectations that you suspend belief to the highest level, that for me, it just didn't really work. There is just not enough logic and reality touch points playing out in this high flying World War 2 creature feature, that feels like 2 or 3 mini - movies mashed into a mercifully short 83 minute running time.
There are some clever aspects. I liked the unexpected animated prologue which does have some tenuous links with the story to follow. And Moritz does do a splendid job, especially in the (relatively) long first act where her Flying Officer Garrett is confined to the Sperry - the ball turret on the belly, the most dangerous position on a bomber - as a sign of how unhappy the misogynistic crew is about having her onboard. From her cramped position in the Sperry, Moritz gives a totally convincing one-woman performance with the men's voices and dismissive attitudes carried over the interior coms system.
But following on from this, we are expected to believe and cheer on, as a woman with a recently broken arm, a broken/dislocated finger and a severe wound in her side, taps into her inner Lara Croft and fights to get out of the turret and to protect her package at all costs.
Shadow in the Cloud is one of those movies that embraces the absurdity of its narrative and tries to have fun with it like for instance Snakes on a Plane The difference is Snakes never took its tongue out of its cheek for a moment, whereas Shadow appears to want us to totally ignore the relentless abuse Garrettt suffers from most of the crew for much of the film and just revel in her green screen achievements. It's a big ask. It's such an uneven film that there aren't enough thrills and excitement here to keep us from noticing, even when we try to turn our brains off.
There are some clever aspects. I liked the unexpected animated prologue which does have some tenuous links with the story to follow. And Moritz does do a splendid job, especially in the (relatively) long first act where her Flying Officer Garrett is confined to the Sperry - the ball turret on the belly, the most dangerous position on a bomber - as a sign of how unhappy the misogynistic crew is about having her onboard. From her cramped position in the Sperry, Moritz gives a totally convincing one-woman performance with the men's voices and dismissive attitudes carried over the interior coms system.
But following on from this, we are expected to believe and cheer on, as a woman with a recently broken arm, a broken/dislocated finger and a severe wound in her side, taps into her inner Lara Croft and fights to get out of the turret and to protect her package at all costs.
Shadow in the Cloud is one of those movies that embraces the absurdity of its narrative and tries to have fun with it like for instance Snakes on a Plane The difference is Snakes never took its tongue out of its cheek for a moment, whereas Shadow appears to want us to totally ignore the relentless abuse Garrettt suffers from most of the crew for much of the film and just revel in her green screen achievements. It's a big ask. It's such an uneven film that there aren't enough thrills and excitement here to keep us from noticing, even when we try to turn our brains off.