The Encounter: Paradise Lost

With Christian films (and all faith films) when they get a hit (the original) the sequels are normally not anywhere near as good, this one is different. It may not be as good as the original but it's worth the watch. Maybe should have been a two part episode in the tv series instead.

I can't say it was a bad movie. I just can't say it was an original or good movie. I think that's what disappoints me with it.

The original Encounter was like a parable. I didn't take it literally, and the simple staging worked well with the metaphorical presentation that made you think about you and your personal relationship with your savior. This one drowns in scenery and detail. We have the Boxing Day typhoon in Thailand as history. We have a whole background story of action from a mafia movie, the drug dealer, the cop, etc. We have the lush and lovely background of Phukett, Thailand and those beautiful beaches. Worst of all, we have the not at all well done fight scenes. All of that distracted from the beautifully simple message of the original.

I just watched Paradise Lost and, I admit, I cried a few times. I liked it just as much as the first (maybe even a bit more). The conclusion was a lot better than the first. I know that the characters were different from the norm of what you'd see at an American cafe, but each character represented the experiences of multitudes of people around the world: empty and addicted to drugs, believing that...pain is an illusion/that through thousands of lifetimes, one can get redeemed, selling drugs to get rich, sold into sexual slavery, full of bitterness, sadness and despair/losing one's faith due to loss of a child or loved one, etc. Good to see David A.R. White playing the role of the police officer in Thailand. That Jason Statham-esque scene was well-coordinated by the way!

The first Encounter done two years before this one had something that I liked which was, one of the characters gets to challenge God with some really mind bogging question that many of us today would really like to ask, the question was "if God is love, then why did he order a genocide, by telling the Israelites to kill all living thing in Canaan?" This second Encounter mind bogging question was, "If it pains God so much to see innocent children die; why does he not stop it?"

Like in the first the mind bogging question was answered not with skill of words but by saying the truth according to the scripture.

The Encounter: Paradise Lost has the same bad cinematography as the first and a longer wait time till we see Jesus. I don't think this movie is anywhere as good as the first because it lacks the innocent adventure that the first movie possesses.

Wrapped around the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004, this movie's weak script and less impressive acting made it hard for me to keep awake while watching; I thought the cinematography in the first was bad, well because the first was shot in a confined area I didn't get to see a full dosage of what the cinematographer could dish out, well due to the success of the first movie the makers used more scenery and lot more cast and all we have is a washed up story that at the end I learnt nothing.

The movie plot is broader than that of the first, it goes on for like 38 minutes before we get to the Jesus character, when we do see him he is again in an enclosed area with people this time there are 6. A couple who just lost a son, a drug dealer, his henchman, the drug dealer's wife and a police officer chasing down the drug dealer.

The character Jesus comes into play and tries to save everybody, but like the first movie not everybody got saved and death which resulted from not following Christ also came to play in this film.

The acting was more a mediocre than the one in the first, the movie lacked of good actors and the man who played Jesus (Bruce Marchiano) was like a king among slaves when the acting is considered. This movie is what makes many people stay away from independent films, badly produced, story line is weak and the movie itself is just boring with a capital B.

Many great producers came about from making independent films, but this producer needs to go back to the drawing board and give us a better story. I wish I could un-watch this movie.

www.lagsreviews.com

Poor acting, weak plot and despite going to a beautiful place the camera work is also poor. Do American people really think that an American DEA officer can use a gun here? He would be executed for murder if he killed someone. Just the same as if a Thai drugs officer started shooting people in Miami. Most Thai people cannot even read English so the badge hanging around his neck means no more than a badge written in Thai would mean in America. Really stupid story. After that low beginning it just rapidly goes downhill. I would like to end with a complement, to be polite and put a nice sentence of mitigation but there is no saving grace in this film. It is pathetic religious propaganda.