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Paradox
Movie:![3.5 Stars :3.5stars: :3.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3.5_stars.png)
Video:![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Audio:![4.5 Stars :4.5stars: :4.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4.5_stars.png)
Extras:![1.5 Stars :1.5stars: :1.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/1.5_stars.png)
Final Score:
Movie:
![3.5 Stars :3.5stars: :3.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3.5_stars.png)
Video:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Audio:
![4.5 Stars :4.5stars: :4.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4.5_stars.png)
Extras:
![1.5 Stars :1.5stars: :1.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/1.5_stars.png)
Final Score:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Paradox may seem like it’s own film with no prior connections to other films, but in fact, it is actually the 3rd in the Kill Zone (Sha Po Lang….or SPL for short, in the original Chinese) series. Kill Zone was arguably one of the better Hong Kong action films at the turn of the century (ish), starring Donnie Yen and a very young Jacky Wu. A couple years ago they decided to continue the series on, but they decided to make the sequel stand on its own, without any connection at all to the first besides the name. Jacky Wu came back and teamed up with Tony Jaa to kick some butt, and was a rather entertaining police action/thriller. For some reason, this 3rd film was re titled to Paradox for English speakers instead of being called Kill Zone 3. Not a big deal in the long run, but it does create some confusion for people who were looking forward to the 3rd entry into the franchise and were not aware of the name change in English. Paradox continues on the tradition of bringing back actors from the previous films, and recasting them to be completely different characters that has no ties to the films that come before. The high flying action film is a bit lighter on action than I expected, but makes up for it with a gritty story of corruption and betrayal that is more akin to a tragedy than your typical action movie.
Keeping right in line with the first couple of movies, Paradox deals with different shades of black, white and gray in the moral subterfuge that is the film’s premise. We’re introduced to Hong Kong police officer Lee Chung Chi (Louis Koo) and his daughter Lee Wing Chi (Hanna Chan) during a birthday gift exchange. Sadly the familial moment is brought short when Lee Wing Chi tells her father that she has a boyfriend. But not ONLY a boyfriend. It seems the two want to get married because he got her knocked up. In a fit of rage, Lee Chung Chi calls his fellow officers on the boy for sleeping with a minor and ostracizes his daughter, who ends up going to Thailand to meet up with some friends. While she’s there Lee Wing Chi gets kidnapped by a group of organ traffickers. Lee Chung immediately heads over to Thailand when he gets the phone call about her being missing, where he has to wade through a host of criminals, corrupt police officers, and hookers who seem to stand in his way
Once he gets to the scene of the crime, he’s greeted by detective Chui Kit (Yue Wu, playing a Thai national) and his partner Tak (Tony Jaa) who assure the grieving father that his case will be handled appropriately. However, Lee Chung is not about to sit around and wait for the cops to uncover a dead body, so the father with a particular set of skills (all these kidnapping stories seem to have dads who can tear through goons like paper mache), sets out on his own to find his daughter’s killers. Chui Kit takes this as a standard missing person’s case until he starts to dig a little deeper. What he finds is death, betrayal, corruption of the highest level, and his own family’s life on the line in what turns out to be the biggest sucker punch of them all.
What I was really impressed with was how the film deviated from the typical hero mantra. There was no good guys (except maybe detective Chui Kit), and the movie had no problem killing off main characters at a moment’s notice. The most shocking one comes right at about the 45-50 minute mark, with a character you never expected to get axed just being murdered in front of our eyes. And the trend doesn’t get any better as the film goes on. By the time the credits roll only one or two main characters actually remain, and I personally like the gutsy move which keeps the viewers o their toes. The action is brutal, bloody and absolutely vicious, deviating from the typical martial arts fare. Don’t get me wrong, there’s several GREAT action pieces in the film (the one with Tony Jaa and the mercenary is excellent, as is the final fight between the merc and the detective), but this is not a real ACTION movie, per se.
Rating:
Not Rated by the MPAA
Video:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Audio:
![4.5 Stars :4.5stars: :4.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4.5_stars.png)
Extras:
![1.5 Stars :1.5stars: :1.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/1.5_stars.png)
• Trailers
Final Score:
![3.5 Stars :3.5stars: :3.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3.5_stars.png)
Like the other two Kill Zone films, Paradox doesn’t come with any major connection to the two that came before it (besides some shared actors), but it is still an exciting entry into the franchise. The shifting to a bleaker and more tragic story line, rather than relying completely on martial arts, makes for an intriguing twist. Not to mention Louis Koo’s performance elevates the film past its meager ambitions. Well Go USA gives us a typically very strong looking/sounding Blu-ray with the STILL typical meager special features array. It’s a fun action thriller and definitely recommended from this Asian cinema buff.
Technical Specifications:
Starring: Louis Koo, Tony Jaa, Yue Wu, Ka Tng Lam
Directed by: Wilson Yip
Written by: Nick Cheuk, Lai-Yin Leung
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Cantonese: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1, Cantonese, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, Mandarin (Simplified)
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 100 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: May 8th, 2018
Recommendation: Interesting Watch