In the best traditions of the action-thriller, writers Saïd Boumazoughe, Sven Huybrechts, Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi and director Bob Colaers embrace heart-pounding action, humour and Machiavellian villainy in bringing Attack on Paradise, screening at Fantasia Film Festival, to the screen.
Sitting somewhere between Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, John McTiernan’s Die Hard and Alex Garland and Pete Travis’s Dredd, Bob Colaers Attack on Paradise is a high-octane crime action thriller that, at times, enthrals but ultimately ends up leaving too many narrative threads hanging. Set on a housing estate in the Netherlands that was once a harmonious if tough place to live, we meet Moroccan-Dutch Suleyman (Saïd Boumazoughe) as he is released from prison after serving a lengthy sentence for defending himself against two police officers who stopped and searched him with no reason years before.
Full of regret for his past actions, the athletic Suleyman was known for his legendary fighting skills and his belief in creating a safe space for immigrant families in a country where they are perpetually viewed as outsiders. Things felt safe when Suleyman was around, but he is about to discover that safety in Paradise has long since vanished.
Eager to return home to his ageing mother, who still lives in the tower block at the heart of the Paradise estate, what Suleyman finds is a community living in fear. Streets are barricaded, drug addicts beg for their next fix, and young men patrol the streets dishing out instant justice. At the heart of it all, the tower block he once called home is now the fortress of the local crime king, Prince (Achmed Akkabi), who rules Paradise with an iron fist alongside his burly fixer, Tchuko (Soroush Helali).
As Suleyman navigates this new, lethal world and reunites with his mother, a Dutch armed Police squad, including rookie special forces recruit Yasmine (Clara Cleymans), plans to seize the high-rise tower and finally arrest Prince in a risky move that Prince has already prepared for.
As he discovers his mum needs urgent medication for diabetes, it’s not long before Suleyman becomes caught in the middle of the gunfire as he attempts to save her and a community that has been torn apart in his absence. And as police officers fall, an unlikely partnership forms between Suleyman and Yasmine amid an explosive fight for survival and freedom.
In the best traditions of the action-thriller, writers Saïd Boumazoughe, Sven Huybrechts, Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi and director Bob Colaers embrace heart-pounding action, humour and Machiavellian villainy in bringing Attack on Paradise to the screen. Action scenes are beautifully staged, with fight scenes carrying the sweat, pain and blood often missing in equivalent American outings.
Equally strong are the location and the use of colour, as neons, fluorescent lighting, and dimly lit corridors and stairways create a sense of claustrophobia as Suleyman and Yasmine navigate the high-rise from hell. Add to this the diversity of cultures on screen, and a clear message that not all action heroes have to be White Caucasian, and there are moments where Attack on Paradise seals its place as a fantastic, boundary-pushing action thriller.
However, for all its triumphs, one aspect continually lets the film down: its rush toward action, its rejection of build-up, and its inability to tie up several loose narrative threads. Suleyman is without a doubt a fascinating character. Still, despite the opening scene depicting his arrest, we are never allowed to explore how the past defines his actions in the present. This is equally true for Yasmine, who has no real backstory beyond a brief scene with her young daughter. For Attack on Paradise to truly soar, these characters needed more time before diving straight into the action, allowing us to build the necessary emotional connection to our leads.
Equally disappointing is the treatment of many side-characters. For example, we are introduced to a young mother and her son who are under the thumb of Prince early in the film. When the young mother is killed, her innocent son is hiding in a sideboard from the bullets, only never to be seen again. There are numerous times when side-characters are placed in scenes to heighten the tension, with little regard for what happens to them as the action intensifies.
There is no doubt that Attack on Paradise delivers on its promise of a taut, action-packed high-rise thriller that celebrates diversity and challenges the lack thereof in most Western action flicks. But one can’t help but feel that in a rush to action, Bob Colaers’ film jettisoned some of the narrative padding needed to make this movie a truly memorable and distinctly different action-thriller.
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