★★
After a heist in Paris, five thieves escape to Thailand to live the good life. Fifteen years later, an old partner tracks them down to get his long-awaited share.
Classification: 15
Much like the tropical paradise, the characters inhabit, this film is all just a front for more unseemly dealings as director Xavier Durringer is unable to create anything original or substantial with this lukewarm action thriller. Even with a compelling lead performance from Sami Bouajila as recently freed Medhi, his quest to get his share from a botched robbery loses itself to convolution and easily loses all of its steam quickly. Although the premise seemingly remains simple, Durringer overcomplicates the elements by throwing in numerous betrayals between the former friends and outside forces of rival gangs and corrupt police forces.
Medhi which in Thai apparently translates to "no good" is a subtle way of communicating to the audience that the character will be a disruptive force in the Phuket crime scene. Upon discovering that his share is gone due to his friend's greed and desperation after losing their money in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami disaster, Medhi supposedly puts together a plan to put his friends back in power while attaining what is his. It splits the group in two with those siding with Medhi's plans which sees their business thrive again although, against the wishes of Hicham, Medhi's brother whose married into the corrupt police force that controls Phuket.
Paradise Beach isn't overly engaging with its story catering to the most basic and predictable plot points and it feels like a glamorised holiday for the actors and filmmakers at times. The setting of Phuket seems to live up to paradise's name during the sequences of yachts, beaches and nightclubs but nothing about the film is visually outstanding and again fades into the averageness of the film. When the story begins to focus more on Medhi's revenge there is barely any tension because of the lack of compelling character development for any of these characters. The betrayals hold no weight and the twists within the narrative do nothing but wane the little interest the audience has left.
Far from utopia, Paradise Beach is an uneventful and uninspired crime thriller that barely thrills and leaves the audience cold and bored by its end. The themes of brotherhood and betrayal fall flat as the archetypal characters remain as two-dimensional as possible leaving whatever emotional intentions in its drama flat and forced. Hyper masculine in its approach and outlook of this juvenile crime fantasy of drugs, guns and revenge, Xavier Durringer's film is a dud that wants to be Grand Theft Auto and instead ends up as a poor forgettable imitation.
Director: #XavierDurringer
Cast: #SamiBouajila, #TewfikJallab, #MélanieDoutey, #HugoBecker, #KoolShen, #SethGueko, #Dosseh, #HacheP, #HubertKoundé, #Nessbeal
Release Date: November 8th 2019
Available to stream on Netflix
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from Netflix
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