Return to Paradise

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing story-true prisoner's dilemma.
Review: Great performances by Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche and Joaquin Phoenix. Intriguing story, which accurrately represents a true prisoner's dillemma. A movie which stays wth you.

Rating:
Summary: a decent prison movie
Review: It was alright nothing more. The movie kind of dragged on a little bit. The plot leaves you wondering what is going to happen next. Good all around performances. Sexy tub scene with Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche.

Rating:
Summary: Promising film that rapidly deteriorates into melodrama
Review: Granted, even the most potent of cinematic material seems to retain a certain propensity to stray from its current tangent into certain bouts of Hollywood-style cheesiness. In some cases, such diversions amount to nothing more than a limited negation of the film's quality. In Return to Paradise, however, this deviation translates into utter ruin.

Accordingly, the promising foundation of the film's story is effectively established in short order, as Lewis(Joaquin Phoenix) is arrested and sentenced for drug-trafficking on account of the untimely discovery of the cumulative amount of hashhish attributed to him and his two buddies, the latter of whom have since relocated to New York to enjoy prominent lifestyles between them. With less than 8 days remaining until the untimely execution of her client, Lewis' attorney (played to perfection by Anne Heche) attempts to utilize the allotted time period to persuade the accomplices to return to Malaysia, where they will each serve reduced sentences.

While Tony(Conrad) barely puts up an argument, Sheriff (Vince Vaughn) is considerably less susceptible to his own moral obligations, thus culminating in a series of increasingly heated and well-orchestrated disputes between himself and the devoted attorney. While the collective performances of Conrad and Vaughn qualify as dispensible cut-outs of aspiring personalities, Heche and Phoenix manage to breath considerable degree of life into their respective cinematic alter-egos. But alas, fine performances can only redeem so much.

The preliminary seeds of disaster are effectively planted at the half-way point as the persistent bickering between Vaughn and Heche suddenly gravitates into sexual intimacy, bad enough considering the complete lack of chemistry between the two characters and further destructive in the manner in which it compromises the film's moral dilemma. From now on, any bout of sudden nobility on Sheriff's behalf could effectively be attributed, not to any genuine conscience of his own making, but to a growing incentive to please and possibly impress his new-found lover. Some viewers may consider this development "moving", but in my book and in the context of the film's initially well-constructed premise, it simply qualifies as "cheating".

By this point, any remaining potential in the premise is effectively squandered into oblivion by the film's melodramatic conclusion, an emotionally-charged spectacle so overzealous and utterly contrived as to render the viewer disoriented. In fact, so ridiculous is the last ten minutes that I actually burst out laughing as the last of the movie's built-up potential was effectively caste into ruin.

There are indeed worse movies out there, but considering the preliminary build-up of expectations, Return to Paradise certainly qualifies as the biggest let-down in recent memory.


Rating:
Summary: Paradise Found: A Lush, Intelligent Character-Driven Film
Review:
This movie appeals on many levels... smartly written, with seductive cinematography, strong editing and acting throughout (with forays into brilliant). And, yes, the romantic sub-plot and un-"Hollywood" style ending DO make sense! Read on ...

(NO SPOILERS...)

Return to Paradise, a beautifully written, crafted and acted film is one of the few DVDs in my collection that I just keep coming back to.

The prologue in Malaysia begins during the credits and is worth the watch in itself. It grabs our interest, and establishes the dynamic between these three young men, who are off for a post-college fling before assuming their "real" lives. The music, handheld camera effects, and MTV-style editing evoke the carelessness of youth, of a young man's idea of "Paradise".

Tony (played by David Conrad) is an opaque, friendly, architect/engineer who is Everyman in his pursuit of honor within the bounds of a satisfying, conventional life. Louis (Joachim Phoenix) - a gentle soul - whose plan is to stay in Southeast Asia and pursue Animal Rights ... and "Sheriff", played by Vince Vaughn - a tough, straight talking hustler from Brooklyn. It is Sheriff's journey that we stay with as the action moves over to America, then back to "Paradise".

We discover, along with the characters, what has happened to the friends since their idyll on Penang. When we rejoin Sheriff, it is a few years later. He is driving a limo, and living in a seedy NYC apartment, filled with books. He is on a path that stumbles as he irreverently, but wistfully, reaches for inner growth. We know enough about movies to know that SOMEthing interesting is about to happen to this good-looking guy. By the time the story wraps up, the character of Sheriff will have achieved an impressive depth of self-awareness, subtlety and tenderness that is a credit to the delicacy of Vaughn's acting in this piece.

Louis and, in his stead, Beth (Anne Heche), believe that greater things lie inside of Sheriff. In the prologue, Sheriff, brash and careless, teeters when Louis asks him (with confidence in Sheriff's core of selflessness) to join a fight to save the orangutan. Much later, faced with a corresponding request from the compelling and volubly erotic character that Heche creates, Sheriff uses his affair with Beth as a catalyst to reach for the nobility in his soul.

Things do not turn out as we (or they) expect. Character relationships reshuffle a bit near the end, but rather than being devices to surprise and tweak our emotions, these twists and turns of the plot help ensure that Sheriff's decisions are (as he tells his friend in a poignant jail cell meeting ) his own. Like Tony, Sheriff ultimately makes his choices, not on behalf of his friends ... but for himself.

The best thing about Return to Paradise is that there are no bad guys. A life "hangs in the balance", but the competing forces are, as in the real world, created by the myriad of individuals all acting out their own interests with no real malice, yet perhaps without the purposeful empathy represented by the Louis character. We are absorbed by the compelling interplay between Beth, Sheriff, Tony, the Malaysian officials and MJ Major (the aggressive reporter played by Jada Pinkett-Smith in an acerbic, pivotal, cameo) all the way through to the final, cathartic, conclusion.

Don't miss this one.


Rating:
Summary: Paradise to watch
Review: I was flicking through chanels on the telivision and I saw Joaquin Phoenix, I had just seen Gladiator and was amazed by his performance in that so I started watching. Boy am I glad i did that. It starts out on an island where three friends are doing hashish then one of them (Phoenix) says that he will stay to help the orangutang. The other two leave, and two years later, assuming that Phoenix is still helping the orangutang, find out something that will test thier conscience, courage, and their friendship. Phoenix has been held in a foriegn prison for the past two years and will be hanged in eight days as a drug trafficker if the two friends dont go back both do three years in prison. This film brings up an interesting question about how good are your friedships and would you do this for your best friend. The Physicological aspect of this film hits you hard, deep in your heart and you brain. This is a must-see film with a twist ending, the last 45 minutes are more dramatic than any other film I have ever viewed. Go see this film.