Shadow in the Cloud (2020) User Reviews

really dumb... but i didn't hate watching it

[FeastMode · 5/10 · 8 June 2021]

There are so many things wrong with this movie. I rolled my eyes many times. Some parts were so dumb that i had to pause the movie in order to process what happened. The entire premise is ridiculous, and so many things that happen are absurd. Whoever made this doesn't understand the most basic laws of physics. And they overdid it with the message

having said all that, i was never bored. In fact, i was invested. And there is one, let's call it, subplot. That subplot doesn't seem to fit in this movie at all. And yet it was the most stupidly entertaining aspect of the movie. (1 viewing, 6/7/2021)

Too Much Schlock Makes it Difficult to Enjoy

[kjproulx · 6/10 · 14 September 2020]

These days, calling something a B-Movie is almost like saying it gets a pass for being a poor film, and while I don't believe that, there are moments in the film Shadow in the Cloud that the filmmakers clearly wanted you to turn your brain off for. I've been a fan of Chloe Grace Moretz as an actress for many years. From her fun roles like Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass or her incredibly committed dramatic performance in Hugo, she showed that her range was capable of going much further. Not knowing anything about this movie, I banked on the lead actress and the premise being fun enough, but I think I got much more than I bargained for. Here's why this film was both great and terrible all at once.

After sneaking on board a plane for mysterious reasons, Maude Garrett (Chloe Grace Moretz) will stop at nothing to protect her classified cargo. Taking place in a single area of the plane for the entirety of the first and second acts, Shadow in the Cloud held my attention very much. Where this film began to lose me was in the very, very over-the-top crew members she had to speak to throughout the film. The level of obnoxiousness was far too much for a movie like this and then the final act hit and it honestly became a completely different movie. It's been a while since I've seen a film switch gears as hard as this one did.

Having just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, I'm trying to wrap my head around how they're even going to market this film to the average moviegoer. For the most part, it takes place in a single location, and when it leaves that location to become a completely different movie, it sort of ruins the shock value of the final act to actually include that stuff in a trailer. Having no idea what this movie was before going in, I must say that I went through numerous emotions throughout. From being invested in the drama in the first act to raising an eyebrow for where it's about to go, to being completely taken out of the movie by the ridiculously over-the-top finale, it's going to be very hard to recommend this one to anyone.

Chloe Grace Moretz gives a damn good performance here, having about 95% of the movie to herself. By the third act, this movie just straight-up becomes a cartoon and I just thought to myself that she is far too good for a movie like this. Maybe the filmmakers knew exactly what movie they were making and knew that they wanted to create some schlock to close out the movie, but Shadow in the Cloud in turn just feels like a bunch of random ideas smashed into one film. I'm truly not sure who the audience for this film will be.

In the end, it's very clear that writer/director Roseanne Liang set out to make some obvious messages throughout the movie, which is what I feel the whole film was going for, but I thought it was way too heavy-handed, especially for the popcorn movie it becomes by the end. The best thing I can say about this film is that the central performance is great and the film is never boring, as it's 83-minute run time does fly by. The problem is that this movie evolves into something that's just too much for itself to handle. I got a huge kick out of certain elements, which is enough for me to give the film a passing grade overall, but it's not a great movie by any means. There are things to have fun with, but the over-the-top nature is simply overdone.

Nightmare at 10.000 feet!

[Bullseye911 · 5/10 · 1 January 2021]

The log line is very intriguing: A secret agent boards a B17 bomber with orders to deliver its secret cargo while flying through enemy territory in the Pacific.

But the actual premise is a call to a classic Twilight Zone episode in which a monster (seen only by the protagonist) tears apart an airplane piece by piece while the crew is blissfully oblivious of its existence.

All that is good enough and makes for an interesting first half of the movie. With most of the time spent watching Chloe Grace Moretz stuck in a ball turret hanging from the belly of the aircraft, bantering with the crew.

In the second half of the movie however, everything falls apart. There is no more intrigue or tension. The movie becomes a strange mix of horror, thriller, war action, and family drama (yes, yes!). With no clear direction, other than placing the protagonist into progressively absurd scenarios.

What you need to know before watching this flick

[rooprect · 11 January 2021]

Imagine a double feature. Imagine taking the powerful, claustrophobic WWII drama "Das Boot" (1981) and immediately following it with "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" (2009). Afterwards you can bet the cleaning crews will be scraping rancid vegetables off the movie screen all night. And, from the look of most reviews on imdb, that's how many viewers reacted to this flick.

"Shadow in the Cloud" is really 2 different movies, and if you plan on riding it all the way through without a dumpster full of rotten produce, you have to realize when it shifts. The first act is a powerful, minimalist drama which is really along the lines of "Das Boot" (a tense drama set entirely in a dark, cramped submarine). The entire first part of "Shadow" is just Chloë Grace Moretz stuck in a cramped 5ft square ball turret on the belly of a B-17 Flying Fortress. The camera remains exclusively on her as she delivers a fantastic performance that could've easily been a 1 act play.

But be prepared. Abruptly, the entire film shifts to an action packed popcorn flick. If you can swallow this, you'll have a wild ride all the way to the end. But if you continue expecting this film to be a heavy, realistic drama, you will certainly be as irritated as if a German U-Boat were to suddenly fly up into the sky and get eaten by a prehistoric shark. (For the record, I consider both "Das Boot" & "Mega Shark" to be masterpieces of cinematic genius.)

You may have noticed that I haven't said a word about the plot. That's deliberate. I was told to go into this film blindly, which I did, and maybe that's the key to swallowing all the twists, turns, and violations of the laws of physics that happen. I mean, hey, if we can accept that a dude can dress up as a bat with a Home Depot tool belt and save the world multiple times, why can't we have fun with a wildly inventive thriller set on a WWII airplane?

Great lead performance downgraded by horrible writing

[bartgodboy · 4/10 · 29 September 2020]

Chloe Frace Moretz is very good in this role for what she is given to work with and you can definitely tell that she is an actress with a lot of range and potential. Sadly, even her performance cannot hide the poor writing.

I was completely baffled when I saw Max Landis in the writing credits. Maybe that's the reason why some parts of the script was poor.

Just awful

[contact-706-97749 · 1/10 · 7 January 2021]

The trailer is much better than the movie. If the producers would only stick to that thay could have considered it a success! But no, they had to make the entire movie...

Ridiculous

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 31 July 2021]

SHADOW IN THE CLOUD (2020) plays out like a combination of a couple of famous episodes of AMAZING STORIES and THE TWILIGHT ZONE. It stars Chloe Grace Moretz as an aviatrix hitching a ride on a US bomber in WW2 who becomes convinced that a malignant gremlin has hitched a ride and is now doing its best to destroy both the plane and the crew. Yep, it's a re-run of that classic old Matheson story about the plane passenger and the gremlin on the wing of his plane, except ten times as cheesy and lacking the freshness of that premise.

It's tough to find good things to say about this low budget oddity, and Moretz isn't one of them. I appreciate the way her character battles the sexism and harassment of the era, but she's whiny here and hard to like as the protagonist. The story is fast-paced and full of action and spectacle, but also plenty of low grade CGI and a monster (essentially a giant bat-thing) that looks like it's wandered in off an Asylum movie. As time goes on, things get more and more preposterous, with the most ridiculous scene being a bit where Moretz falls out of her plane and lands on an exploding plane beneath her, the force of which blows her back up into her plane again unscathed. It lost me at that point and never recovered.

What movie was everyone else watching!?

[RBForrest · 7/10 · 3 January 2021]

First off, one of the chief complaints is that this movie hates men. I'm sorry to say, but as a former Navy sailor, most talk this way. Not to mention this takes place in the 1940's when men were actually considered to be superior to women, so the dialogue seems to fit for me. Also, Chloe acts her heart out here making for some of the most intense moments in cinema this year. I was completely captivated by this under the radar gem. This movie was well shot, had an amazing 80's synth soundtrack, had fantastic acting, and was just pretty damn cool. The only downside is the main "horror" element as the CGI was not that great, nor the design. Other than that...Shadow in the Cloud was entertaining as hell and worth a watch.

Absolutely horrible script, but good moments otherwise

[WatchAndSmile · 5/10 · 2 January 2021]

Bad script, so bad, I am not sure how it went to production with so much nonsense that makes no sense and just doesn't work. The acting was pretty nice by most actors and there were good moments, nice cgi. Script absolutely ruined the movie. Could've been a blockbuster if they just reworked it a bit( it is not that hard, I can clearly see about 10 possibilities without even thinking about it)

4.6/10

A rare modern movie that has genuine spirit!

[Kaijikun · 7/10 · 1 January 2021]

First things first, if you complain about unbelievable things happening in a movie about gremlins attacking an airplane, you need to have your opinion license permanently revoked.

"Shadow in the Cloud" is obviously meant to be viewed as a simple comic book style rip-roaring WWII adventure to be enjoyed like a cheeseburger or a pint of ice cream and not to be deeply analyzed for plot depth and realism. The hordes of egotists falling over themselves to prove how "above it all" they are need to loosen up and switch to decaff. Yes, absolutely ludicrous things happen in this movie, and that's what makes it fun! Is everyone really so hopped up on dopamine from constantly scrolling through social media that they can't let go and enjoy a zany movie?

Chloe Moretz' performance was captivating and thrilling from start to finish. These are the kind of roles she was born to play and it was clear that she had an absolute blast making the movie. The rest of the cast were clearly there to be functional, forgettable cardboard cutouts, and the energy of the movie would have suffered if they'd been directed to draw attention away from the main character.

I'm confident that in a decade this movie will be found on film lists under the heading "Cult movies that were despised on release". I'd love to see a sequel!

Just awful

[pc-652-235368 · 1/10 · 3 January 2021]

Terrible writing, almost good acting ruined by the worst storyline every. Don't waste your time. There is a part when she falls out the plane only to be blown back in by another exploding plane!!! Yes falls out a small hole. Then... blown back ...onboard.

I almost listened to the reviews. Glad I didn't.

[xhospitalwaterx · 8/10 · 3 January 2021]

Clearly the people rating this movie 1 or 2 stars have no clue what terribly unaware critics they are. This movie is an amazingly suspenseful, joy ride of horror/ sci-fi, top grade B movie magic! It's unique and different and it's a shame people don't see that. It's Grindhouse on a big budget and I love it. If you love Nicolas Cage style B movies. You'll love this.

Great B movie

[srlopez71553 · 7/10 · 18 January 2021]

This is all about entertainment. It's not about accuracy. Most of the reviewers here are far too harsh in their opinions of this flick. It's entertainment, plain and simple. You can tell it's a B movie right away just from the title graphics. It's has elements of the Twilight Zone and the gremlin movies. Sure world war II details aren't accurate and the sheer surrealness at the beginning of the movie on the tarmac is a clue that this movie isn't about reality. It was a truly imaginative stunt to fall out of the plane only to be blown back into the plane by the enemy plane exploding right underneath. So, I'd advise viewers of this flick to sit back and enjoy it instead of looking at it with all too critical eyes. It was a surprise at the end to see the main character feed the baby at the end in the manner that she did. I guess I still see her as quite young which she is. Ah well. I enjoyed the movie enough to watch it a few times.

Mismatch of three plots in one

[Clive_W · 1/10 · 3 January 2021]

Where to begin? firstly let's look at the issue with the three plots running throughout the film, we spend the majority of the film in the gun turret, a full 50 minutes of the run time is spend inside the turret, incredible dull, with some the most annoying and completely pointless dialog which has no impact or development on the overall story, during this time we have the reveal that the secret package is in fact a baby, fair enough but I'm confused as to why this would be happening, why a bomber plane, were there not other safer options to get home? Ignoring that point and moving on... we have the annoying weird cut scenes to other characters, how to best describe this scene is when the other characters are "introduced" we jump to a black background with the character stood in a weird blue/green/red light, not a clue as to why we didn't just cut to the characters on the plane. All this time we are still inside the gun turret, so plot one is just the secret mission which turns out to be the baby, plot point two is the creature attacking the plane. What is the creature, what is its purpose, why is it attacking, why is it sabotaging the plane, not 100% sure to the reason behind the creature, I guess it's to draw up some excitement while we spend 50 minutes in the turret, but ignoring the endless issues about the creature we can move (or more skip to) onto the third plot the fact this is war times and the crew are flying somewhere near or not near Japanese forces, no clue as to where as we don't really get much information besides saying enemy forces aren't flying this far, as to where this is no clue. Now we've spent 50 minutes of the 1 hour 20 minute run in this turret, we've had these three plots randomly happen during this time, with an awful amount of time putting up with the worst dialog! After 50 minutes other characters are starting to spot the creature on the plane, seeing it rip apart the engines, with ease, and then for whatever reason it stops taking out the plane... the creature manages to get ahold the child in its briefcase and leaves it hanging off the side the broken engine. This is the moment we finally leave the turret for Chloe's character to break all the rules, the unforgettable scene which Chloe's character climbs easily upside down on this failing plane while flying, she climbs across the under parts of the plane to get the child back from hanging on that tiny bit of metal, if you ignore the fact the child doesn't fall out the bag, doesn't get hurt during this whole experience, and forget any laws of physics, this scene still doesn't make sense. All the while the creature has disappeared, we return to the war aspect with enemy planes easily shooting the location where Chloes character is hung or climbing whatever you want to call this, so we eventually make it back inside (FYI the turret at this point has fallen off) once back inside several characters have at some point died, we finally see the other characters on the plane. Skipping over the pointless fight with the creature mixed with the fighter planes several characters are just killed off, eventually the plane does this bonkers action where they have this idea to flip the plane upside down to flip it back and save the day... so they of course crash land, we have the final show down this the creature, but the attacking planes are somehow all dealt with. Forgetting the attacking planes and focusing on the creature, what is this creatures obsession with the child, why does it keep taking the baby and not kill the child or eat... in that final showdown, the bat like creature is for some reason afraid so attempts to run away but is then punched over and over again, all the while completely forgotten the fact the bat thing has massive claws it doesn't use... once it's dead, the film kinda just wraps things up and ends... the overall story seems to constantly flick between these three plot points, there's no character development or interaction beyond that annoying dialog exchange, we spend much the run time in the same location, there's no really comment on the editing or much else as the film is very limited, when you do get more verity in the scene the editing does then highlight as an issue with the quick jumps making some action moments hard to follow, camera angles weren't the best, honestly you could go on and on with the issues surround this film, I would like to find out the budget just out of interest, if your honestly wanting to watch this film it can be found for free on YouTube (if not been taken down - at time of review full film is available) but I personally wouldn't recommend unless you want to enjoy a bad film, it's such a shame the film falls completely flat as there could have been a great story to tell, why not look at true stories where women were involved in the war, there were so many better options to tell some great stories than this rubbish, it's listed as a Action, horror war film, the action is limited to the war aspect of the enemy planes, the horror is very very limited to the creature, and of course the war is just literally the war time period and enemy planes, the trailer is a complete lie. Good luck to you if you pain yourself through this experience, I honestly am disappointed as there really could have been a great strong female character story set in war times, instead were left with this...

An additionally point I wish to make regarding the very start, firstly why did the plane land so briefly to be taking of within moments, there wasn't enough time to refuel, also did the plane make an extremely hard u turn without any aid, and pull up behind Chloe with ease, what was the point in the supernatural disappearing act by the person on the runway.... then if this was a secret mission that Chloe was on why would there be one character acting like such a prick about it, if you got orders that clearly state top priority mission you follow the orders. Also was the near miss meant to build some tension as it doesn't.

Very bad movie

[mail-60134 · 1/10 · 9 February 2021]

In my opinion they should have used much of the special effects budget to hire another writer to fix this script. Ms Moritz is a great actress but even she was unable to pull this script through. I am so glad that I only lost $2 to rent this. Just watch Kick A** again. You will be happy that you did.

I wished the plane crashed after take off

[choueiri101 · 1/10 · 7 February 2021]

As my heading suggests, a plane crash with all on board dying would have been awesome in comparison to watching the movie in its entirety.

Choose a plot and stick with it, and for the sake of all things that are good, please provide some context.

Why, why the hell was the gremlin after the baby, is there a massive plot twist that the gremlin is the father? Is the gremlin meant to represent the abusive father? Where did it come from, why was there only one?

Let's crawl along the outside of a plane upside down in the middle of a dog fight, seriously?

Oh no, we accidentally bumped the latch that opened the cargo drop, now we have to walk along a beam carefully. How about you close the hatch.

Three Japanese fighters trying to take down a bomber and losing...it speaks for itself.

Chloe being stuck in the gunner seat with nothing but that annoying chatter was sickening.

I almost forgot, that so called fight scene at the end with alien. It's got massive claws and doesn't decide to use them. Let me take a beating first with my arms spread. The alien bent the machine guns turrets earlier and now can't defeat a girl that just survived a bullet to the shoulder, broken finger and a plane crash followed by an explosion.

Throughout the movie I thought of the Simpsons gremlin on the bus. Couldn't get it out of my head.

Please avoid this comical 'plainwreck'.

Disappointing

[charlespdallas · 3/10 · 2 January 2021]

I am normally a massive Chloe Grace Moretz fan, even movies that are considered a miss like 5th Wave. I am also a monster movie fan, whether that is major AAA shows like Godzilla, Cloverfield or pure B movies that are entertaining as long as you don't take them too serious ( Anaconda, Pirana, Lake Placid, older Godzilla movies, etc.

Unfortunately this movie was a complete miss across the board. Wasn't a good Chloe Grace Moretz movie, wasn't a good monster movie, nor did it even embrace being a B flick.

I do not recommend. Just flat out bad

Dogfights & Gremlins

[Pairic · 7/10 · 19 January 2021]

Shadow in the Cloud: Feels like a mix between the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission", The Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and Memphis Belle, with even a homage to Aliens. Maude (Chloe Grace Moretz) hitches a ride on a B-17 going from Auckland to Samoa, she's carrying secret documents but even though she's a WAAF pilot the crew give her a hard time. She has to go into the belly bubble gun-turret for take off but ends up being trapped there. Then a gremlin, a large bat/rat/ape creature appears and starts damaging a wing and attacking her turret, the crew disbelieve her at first. Much of the action is based in the bubble and the outside of the plane, with the airmen only being heard over the intercom until Moretz gets back into the fuselage. It's not just the monster that they have to fear though, Japanese Zeros also attack. The gremlin is quite convincing as are the hand to hand battles with it and the dog fights with the Zeros. Some of the events do require a suspension of disbelief but Moretz literally kicks gremlin, misogynist and Zero ass. A couple of interesting plot twists makes this into an Air Ace scary pulp story. Directed and Co-written by Roseanne Liang. 7/10.

Chloë Grace Mortez's career is going worse than bad.

[sumitdhruv4199 · 3/10 · 31 December 2020]

Chloë Grace is a terrific actress so it is disheartening to see how her career going downhill since her early rise with Kick-ass among other projects. This has definitely to with her choosing of such horrible production as this. From top to bottom the movie is a huge disappointment and keeps you want to rip your own hair off.

This was refreshingly different and surprisingly entertaining

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 7/10 · 8 January 2021]

Novice writer and director Roseanne Liang really took a risk on this crazy genre-crossing action-horror-war story, and somehow pulled it off.

Sure it had some plot and technical issues, but it was still refreshingly new and different, and surprisingly entertaining. It did go a little overboard in the "✊ girl power" department though, especially the fight towards the end.

I enjoyed her choice of dated war setting and costumes. The directing was outstanding, the cinematography and color choices perfect, and the casting and performances were decent. Chloe Grace Moretz nailed her role, although her constant screaming became annoying after a while. The S/VFX were great, especially the gremlin. The 83 min runtime was just right as was the pacing. The sound and score were on point.

I'm actually shocked at the low rating and reviews, but I for one have been looking for something different for some time, and Liang finally delivered it. It's a well deserved 7/10 from me.

How much cocaine did the writer do?

[diablitodesigns · 3/10 · 6 February 2021]

This had promise, but went cocaine fuel crazy. I really had hoped it would be better. It's like two different movies. The latter part was written on cocaine.

Wow

[mablakeyack · 8/10 · 13 May 2021]

Really most of the reviews take this B movie way to serious. It's a B adventure movie with some action, monsters and ww2 back drop. She is a wonderful actress in the movie. Directing was a little arty but not bad. Special effects not MCU but fine. I think if you want a popcorn adventure movie this was fun.

Want a deep sophisticated high brow film like some of these people reviewing maybe not your film. Is it Indiana Jones, no but just as good as skylines or Jupiter ascending. Just enjoy the unique adventure. It's at the very least original and not a remake. 😀

Chupacabra in the Cloud

[Draysan-Jennings · 6/10 · 3 January 2021]

How the hell did the baby remain unharmed throughout the whole movie? And what was up with that flying chupacabra gremlin thing? Besides all that I wouldn't let these bad reviews detour you. It's funny how people truly hate this film. Some of these reviews are brutal. Compared to all the straight crap that's been coming out, this wasn't that bad. Yes some scenes were definitely unrealistic. Like the part when she crawls across the bottom of the plane upside down holding a baby in a leather box. Nevertheless, in the end I thought it was a decent action/suspense film. 6 stars

beautifully awful

[doomhelles · 1/10 · 9 February 2021]

The plot is like a bad dream of an afternoon nap nothing make sense

No!

[muzz1957-128-839256 · 1/10 · 3 January 2021]

The only redeeming feature of this dross is its short run time.