A tear-stained, blood-splattered odyssey
An odd mix of hardcore visceral action and contemplative sentiment, Night in Paradise suffers from being an overly long plod in need of some major narrative tightening and its occasional blasts of directorial panache that are ultimately squashed by its uncompromising fatalism. Melding the gangland revenge thriller and the terminal illness romance, there's real inventiveness to the way director Park Hoon-Jung wrong-foots the viewer and handles the operatic displays of gunfire and death, unfortunately, the connective tissue that the film only pretends to be interested in and beyond basic action sequences renders it rather dull. The production values are the best things the film has going for it, the photography is frequently fantastic and the music does a decent job of matching the dark tone the film carries with some decent acting all around to boot. Unfortunately, there's a serious lack of personality permeating throughout Night in Paradise, one that sometimes plays like a road trip, sometimes like a romance and sometimes like the idle imaginings of a serial killer. A tear-stained, blood-splattered odyssey in whether revenge is warranted or even capable of bringing personal satisfaction that could have been so much better.
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