Released: August 2017(Hong Kong)
Director: Wilson Yip
Run Time: 100 Minutes
Not Rated
Distributor: Well Go USA
Genre: Action/Thriller
Cast:
Louis Koo: Lee Chung Chi
Yue Wu: Chui Kit
Ka Tung Lam: Cheng Hon Shou
Chris Collins: Sacha
Tony Jaa: Tak
Jacki Cai: Siu Man
Ken Lo: Ban
Hanna Chan: Lee Wing Chi
Back in 2005, a little film out of Hong Kong managed to catch my eye: Kill Zone starring Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung. What I didn’t know was that the name Kill Zone was for the American release of the picture. The original name for the movie was Sha Po Lang(SPL). Regardless, the film was an absolutely mind-blowing crime thriller featuring some really strong performances by Yen and Hung, with an outstanding story. It’s one of my favorite movies to come out of Hong Kong in the past 20 years. Fast-forward about a decade and we have a follow-up to SPL. SPL: A Time for Consequences would feature Wu Jing, Tony Jaa and Max Zhang in an equally compelling thriller, even though it’s a sequel in name only. The American name for that was Kill Zone 2, creatively enough. At the time the second film was released, there was talk about a possible third entry into the series. Along comes a new little thriller called Paradox and people assumed that it was a new SPL film. Is it really, though? Let’s find out.
The film begins as Hong Kong cop Lee Chung Chi is having dinner with his daughter, Wing, when her boyfriend enters the picture. After seeing her boyfriend arrested and forced into an abortion, Wing runs away to Thailand. Several days later, she’s abducted by a gang specializing in organ trafficking. Learning that his daughter disappeared in Thailand, Lee heads there to find her and some answers. The overall plot appears to be pretty simple, however, the film does go into some really dark territory. This is essentially a story about a man who pushed away the only family he had left, and something terrible may have happened to her. The story isn’t bad and it really pulls no punches. It gets pretty grim at times. However, it doesn’t feel like an SPL/Kill Zone film. It really doesn’t. First of all, the plot device of organ trafficking was already dealt with in Kill Zone 2, so why bring that up again in a third film? Honestly, Paradox feels more like Taken than it does SPL, which isn’t a coincidence, because Mr. Yip was clearly influenced by Liam Neeson’s film. Again, the story isn’t awful, far from it, but to me, it doesn’t scream Kill Zone/SPL 3.
One of the things that has remained consistent throughout the SPL films and this one is the acting. It’s been very top-notch all across the board. Louis Koo plays Lee, who is searching for his daughter. I’ve known about Louis Koo for a number of years and this is probably the best performance I’ve seen from him yet. He goes from a father who is desperate to find his daughter to a vengeful man who is willing to do anything to get his daughter back. You can see over the course of the film that the character is not only emotionally distraught, but he’s willing to do things a cop normally wouldn’t/shouldn’t do to get answers. He teams up with Chui Kit, played by Yue Wu. Yue Wu delivers an exceptional performance himself as a cop who wants to help Lee, but is at odds with some of his superiors, one of which is his father-in-law. Chris Collins plays Sacha, the leader of the organ trafficking business in Thailand, and I have to say, even though the character is scummy, Chris is clearly having the time of his life playing the character. Tony Jaa makes an appearance in the film, and while it’s nothing more than an extended cameo, he does get some pretty good scenes. Jaa has improved a great deal as an actor once he started getting into movies made outside of Thailand. Ka Tung Lam plays the less-than-honorable assistant to the city’s mayor. Overall, the acting is pretty good across the board. This is definitely Louis Koo’s show, though.
For those looking for a balls-to-wall action flick, you may not get it here. It takes a good 20-30 minutes before the action starts. That being said, the action is pretty hard-hitting. The fights are handled by the legendary Sammo Hung, who obviously knows his way around an action sequence. He’s been in the business for over 40 years, so he’s doing something right. The punches and kicks land with a very satisfying thud. Louis Koo, who is NOT a martial artist, actually handles the action pretty well. His movements seem to be a little stiff, but overall, he’s still pretty convincing. Wue Yu gets his moments to shine and he’s really good. While Tony Jaa doesn’t have a lot of screen time, he does have a pretty good fight scene with Chris Collins. The fights are mostly good and as I said before, hit hard. There are a couple of issues that I had with the action in this film. Some fight scenes had an over-use of wires and this was really evident with the fight between Tony Jaa and Chris Collins. Also, some of the fight scenes have an issue with the camera being a little too close to the action. The editing is also a little too much for me to handle. Overall, though, the action is satisfying to watch.
The term Sha Po Lang refers to three stars in Chinese astrology which represent power, destruction, and lust. When these stars line up, really bad things tend to happen. These are themes that tend to run throughout the Kill Zone/SPL films, and there is definitely an element of that in Paradox. So, I guess in a way it does qualify as an SPL film. The tone of the film is just as bleak and grim as the previous films, so yeah, the more I think about it, the more it does seem to be an SPL film. That being said, it’s not a bad movie at all. Oh, no. It’s a really good one and it’s worth seeking out. I really like it when movies don’t pull their punches and have the balls to go the directions they go, despite the risks. While Paradox has its issues, it’s definitely worth seeing.
My Final Recommendation: 8.5/10. In other words: Recommended.