Clive_W Review of Shadow in the Cloud

Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

Mismatch of three plots in one

[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.