Paradox (2010)

Instant Favorite.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

I wanted to enjoy this one as even throw away sci-fi (story built around fun idea but the rest of the movie isn't great) but this one was awful. Where it had originality it felt like others had this idea, realized it wasn't a good idea and dropped it. When it used one liners from Bond and Scarface, it felt totally unoriginal and made me honestly wonder how the writer has a job. The "comic" panels didn't add anything. In 24 they showed what multiple people were doing at the same time, but this was just multiple angles of the same scene most of the time, and the "comic" style did nothing to add to the story. It was a style, but the "pow" of the 60's Batman is a far better style that felt original and fresh while this seemed silly in a sci-fi story. (Yes, I know it's based on a comic, but it wasn't a super hero theme or anything. Was it just to advertise that it came from a comic? Because I couldn't figure out any other reason for it.) Sorry, I won't be recommending this one to anyone. The acting wasn't awful so I will give it three stars just so I don't feel I'm totally hating on it. (It was the movie quotes that killed it flat for me, I'll admit. They weren't even cool, they were just sad!)

"Paradox" is another film from American World Pictures, made for Sci-Fi Channel. The plot of the movie actually is interesting, and it would be nice: the film begins on a parallel Earth, similar to ours, but where magic has replaced science and vice versa. Much is different this world, which apparently developed after the 2nd World War, when Winston Churchill (yes, him), uses the same mystical objects that Adolf Hittler used to win the war - he is still alive in the movie, with 130 years.In this world, it's common the use of necromancy, spells and crystals that store the mystical force that replaces the normal power on Earth: the most powerful politicians are actually the most powerful magicians. But something mysterious happens when a murder occurs, using a strange metal projectile - in fact a bullet from a .44 Magnum, from our world - the magic is weak against the iron.Interesting, isn't it? But what is interesting stops here.Kervin Sorbo is in the role of Sean Nault, a homicide detective who investigates the case, he ends up finding a esoteric shot (actually a science store) from Lenoir (Steph Song), and discovers a plot that could destroy the world (I do not go into spoilers here, only because would not be worthwhile to describe the rest of the story).the film is based on the comic of the same name, written by Chistos N. Gage, and has an approach to his origins, taking (and using badly) ideas used in "Sin City". The between-scenes are show sometimes by converting the images into drawings, sometimes from changes frames and scenes like they were comic book frames.The acting is terrible, the more enjoyable one is from Kevin Sorbo (who has starred in many films and TV series such as Andromeda and Hercules) - many clichés and horrible and confusing dialogs scattered all around.The scenery comes to to be funny for the moment, sometimes being sterile on the indoor, sometimes with open air fake scenarios generated by CG (one scene in the snow is hilarious): the special effects, as one might expect, also use CG in scenes with creatures (Pegasus, dragons, etc. - yes that's right) who try to be quick, not to show the quality of it. Many items of scenery and makeup (eg the "zombies" that are used as workers) are too horrible, reminding a Star Trek episode in the late '60s.If this is deliberate or not is another story. The big problem, even excluding what I mentioned, is that the story becomes confused, with many bad scenes and with bad explanations, and that get us in a hasty conclusion. in the final 20 minutes.Another movie that came out very bad, yet, it has enough to be funny, and like it or not, have a starting plot that is interesting, but not being well developed and with bad writing / acting / effects, sinks the film. My score: 3.6 / 10.0.

My 1st review. With only a few reviews - all bad, I just had to..If your going to watch a Kevin Sorbo film, you should already know that it's going to be of "B" quality. Given that, this was an interesting story-line; a 'magic world' as the norm, with an alternate universe 'scientific world' as the thing of myth. The acting and the special effects were actually better than average for a Sorbo film, as well as for many of the new SyFy films being pumped out nowadays. If your looking for an interesting scifi movie to chill-out and watch, this is well worth your time.Overall I would give it at least a 5.0+

The concept drew me in since pre-production. Mixing our scientific world with an otherwise-identical magical world is such an amazing idea, I felt it could not possibly go wrong. And yet, it did. Horribly wrong.To begin with: HOW can the writers of such a great concept come up with such cheesiness? Throughout the movie, there was some seriously groan-worthy dialogue, and by the end I was almost suicidal from the overload of cheese. Even in the beginning, Helen's statement "I only have a Master's in Necromancy from Harvard" was probably the worst way possible to set up the similarities and differences between this magical world and our own. And Detective Nault watching CSI once in our world and suddenly cracking the case in his using CSI techniques? Seriously, what the hell were these writers on? On top of that, many things just seemed out of place and continuity-wise just didn't make sense. For example, they spend so much time leading up to a sex scene between Sean and Lenore, but that scene never happens. Also, Churchill notes that our world has too much iron, which inhibits magical energy, yet Lenore has no trouble bringing a stone minotaur to life with a single lipstick aleph. And then, what really annoyed me: Lenore and and Sean barely know each other, especially if we just take the scenes we've seen as their entire relationship, yet that doesn't stop the editors from adding a montage of them as if they've known each other for years.Lastly, a concept of universe-swapping should have more...well, universe-swapping. They spend only 10 minutes of the hour-and-a-half film in the other universe, and besides the aforementioned ridiculous CSI thing, there was little point to the trip anyway.Overall, if a better writer and production team decide to reboot this and execute it much better, I'm on board. But as it stands, no. No, no, no. This was terrible.