Starring
Louis Koo, Lam Ka Tung, Wu Yue, Chris Collins, Tony Jaa. Gordon Lam,
Hanna Chan. Directed by Wilson Yip. (2017/98 min).
AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
WELL
GO USA
Review
by Tiger Longtailđź
Paradox
is the third film in Wilson Yip's "SPL" franchise. The
first two are better known to American audiences as Kill Zone
and Kill Zone 2. Not that it really matters because none of
them are actually related to each other. Paradox features the
return of Wilson Yip (Ip Man) to the director's chair after skipping
the previous film.
Louis
Koo, Wu Yue and Tony Jaa are also back, but as different characters.
This time, Koo plays Lee, a widowed Hong Kong cop whose daughter goes
missing when she visits Pattaya. He and the detective assigned to the
case, Chui Kit (Wu Yue), suspect she's been abducted. Meanwhile, the
mayor has a heart attack and needs a transplant, which is arranged by
his assistant, Cheng (Gordon Lam), who enlists the services of Sacha
(Chris Collins). Sasha run an organization that sells organs on the black market. And guess
whose heart they want.
 |
| "Thumbs up, buddy!" "Back at ya, bro!" |
Though
thematically similar, Paradox is an all-around much better
film than Kill Zone 2, which completely fell apart in the
final act. Here, the story grabs the viewer right away and doesn't
let go. This film trims the excess fat and breathlessly moves from
one action sequence to the next, with a lot of violent gunplay,
chases and, of course, close-quarters martial arts, the latter of
which features some creatively-ambitious choreography.
 |
| Louis Koo decides to dine & dash. |
Among
the mayhem are interesting characters. It was a smart choice having
Louis Koo play the protagonist this time. Always an intense physical
actor, Koo also effectively balances the parental sensitivity and
protectiveness his character requires while snapping some limbs along the way. Tony Jaa's character feels like a gratuitous
shout-out to the last film, but Chui Kit makes a good "partner,"
whose own family becomes at-risk as they uncover the human
traffickers. As for their foes...Paradox gives us some
despicable bad guys that we can't wait to see die...as violently as
possible (Chris makes Sacha a deliciously hateful bastard).
Paradox
goes to some dark places in terms of tone and narrative, but that's
also part of what makes it far more engrossing than its predecessors.
Since the SPL films are all stand-alone stories anyway, there's no
need for the viewer to bring themselves up-to-speed. Paradox is
consistently intense, exciting and well-worth checking out by action
fans.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
4 MAKING OF FEATURETTES
TRAILER
DVD
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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