Paradox

Clearly this is made on a relative small budget for straight to TV\DVD release, which maybe some should consider if scoring based on films with ten to a hundred times the budget with visuals to match.

So I try to review based more on acting and story. The first 15 minutes or so of acting in fairness did seen rather poor but certainly picked up during the film.

Sadly the time machine itself seemed very unrealistic and I was left feeling they could have put far more effort into that than they did with what seemed like nothing more than a bit of stage rigging that you often see in pop-up form in shopping centers etc when they have "celebrity" appearances etc. However I tried to not let that bother me to much and just try to enjoy what was clearly a budget film. Soundtrack was decent enough and certainly helped with the atmosphere for the film quite a lot so top marks on that.

The story itself was certainly above average for these budget films and no real pointless angles or daft endings even if a very slight twist in the end. Sure, if you over analyze the script and scenes you will find plot holes to complain about quite easily. But it's not supposed to be or claiming to be a factually or theoretically correct on the script front. If your willing to just sit and watch the film without over analyzing or judging it to much based on budget it's quite an enjoyable film to fill 90 minutes.

I was tricked into giving this one some time by the first 2 reviews in the list. They lied. While the story synopsis implies there might be an interesting sci fi setup floating about, the first 10 mins of terrible acting, stale scenes and exposition make you not care about waiting to find out. The first scene was like an 80s kids drama of 'acting'. All fake urgency and 'drama'. The next scene with 2 cops in a car giving us the run down on the central group of scientists they were watching dragged on for what seemed like hours. I'm not sure it ever stopped. The 'scientists' were giving it their best 'teen 80s delinquent' impersonations which made me wonder if this movie was a tongue in cheek nod to those crappy movies of that period, (like we need more of them?), but that thought soon left my mind as I wished it to be over as soon as possible, but that wasn't going to happen till the full 90 minutes of excruciating was over. This is not worth your time. It's not clever, it's not funny, it's just boring, and badly done at that.

If you stick with it it gets better the longer it runs. So it's easy to stick with it :) The time stuff don't worry about it, and who can ever work that out anyway. It's an interesting film obviously a lower budget but that doesn't stop a good story. And this has a good story. Well a very passable story. As I said in the tittle I think it's a good movie, not incredible but a lot better than many other movies of this budget. Worth a watch. It's actually a bit of a thriller really. A who done it who is the killer type of thing. In the end you find out everything and it's rewarding.

Deep in the heart of the city, a group of brilliant young scientists, led by the mysterious Mr. Landau, are on the brink of completing a machine that will let them travel one hour forward in time. When the first to time travel comes back with dire warnings of the rest of the group's impending demise, who can they trust? More to the point, will they survive, or is their fate already sealed?

Paradox has all the usual ingredients of modern, low budget sci-fi thrillers, from the convoluted story packed with twists and turns, to wonky sets, ropey CGI and hammy acting. The thing is, it actually seems to work for the most part.

The movie is pacey, energetic and unpretentious. Despite it's obviously low budget and limited crop of acting talent, the ensuing 90 minutes are rather enjoyable. Naturally, Zoe Bell is the cream of the acting crop here and she's always worth watching. Her physical talent is a touch underused during the film, but when she gets the opportunity, she uses it well. The rest of the largely unknown cast, despite having some truly naff dialogue to work with, are at least appealing despite some, shall we say, enthusiastic performances.

The direction and editing are pretty snappy and the movie motors along at a fair old click. It's silly, perils of time travel sci-fi hokum, so if you're expecting anything more, this movie is not one for you to watch. If however, you fancy some cheesy, undemanding fun with some campy acting thrown in with your thrills and spills, then there will be no contradictions in you giving Paradox a view.

I've seen worse. Let's start with the music. Very soap opera reminiscent and a tad too loud. The lighting seemed fine, but the sound was odd. During the scenes where the actors were speaking in a normal volume, it was good. During the scenes where the characters were in a panic (and the actors were way over the top), the sound was somehow...hollow. I can't explain it. It was almost as if they knew the sound quality wasn't great, so they bumped up the volume on the music.

The premise, of course, is always fun. You could spend hours pondering the time travel paradox through your mind to no avail. The screenplay itself wasn't bad. I can only assume that the direction given the actors was to be intentionally over the top. Less is more in film, they know that. These are experienced actors. Was Michael Hurst simply catering to the B film fans?

Then again, Michael Hurst is providing work to actors that need to keep working. He's also likely having fun shooting, making a little money and building his own resume. I love Scifi...quality Scifi. If you enjoyed Ex Machina, Europa Report, Predestination, Snowpiercer, Automata, et cetera, then you will not find this to be worth your time. It could have been quite good had they slowed down and allowed for quality acting to come through. It felt like they rushed through to save money and were quite satisfied with just another B movie. It's a shame.