Rating	NC16 Violence 暴力画面
Language	Mandarinwith English & Chinese subtitles
Genre	Action
Director	Wilson Yip
Cast	Louis Koo, Wu Yue, Gordon Lam, Tony Jaa, Chris Collins, Hanna Chan
Synopsis	Hong Kong cop Lee (Louis Koo) goes on a search in Thailand for his missing daughter Chi (Hanna Chan). Thai Chinese police officer Chui Kit (Wu Yue) lets Lee join the investigation, having no idea that Lee is going to use the mass media to hunt for clues. A short clip which accidentally filmed Chi's capture is uploaded to the police website, but subsequently deleted. Chui Kit and colleague Tak (Tony Jaa) tracks down the clip owner, but the evidence is destroyed before they can stop it. The duo begins tracking down the culprit. As they get closer to the truth, they realize that the case is more complicated than they expected, and the mastermind behind the scene is not someone they can deal with...

REVIEWS

By Jason Lin 24 Aug 2017

In such a brutal environment, Paradox explores exactly that where it isn’t interesting to discuss morality rationally.

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Striking at a specific target would often lead to better outcomes as against throwing wild blows everywhere. Hong Kong filmmaker Wilson Yip (of Ip Man fame) has achieved this with his latest action thriller Paradox with a simple premise.

Hong Kong police officer Lee (Louis Koo) is going through a rough period in his life where he lost his wife (special guest appearance by Michelle Saram) in a car accident and his daughter Wing-Chi (Hanna Chan) to a human trafficking syndicate in Thailand. Affairs are also complicated by Wing-Chi’s teenage pregnancy with her young boyfriend, which was forcefully intervened by Lee.

While it hints of a possible plot thread on the father-daughter dynamics, Wing-Chi, however, spends most of the time under captivity. The film follows Lee faithfully during his search and investigation in Thailand along with native officers Chui Kit (Wu Yue) and Tak (Tony Jaa).

The audience sees a brooding protagonist who isn’t capable of fully keeping his innate emotions and instincts under control. Honed by his training and tragic family background, Lee is determined and stops at nothing to attain his objectives. This often involves questionable decisions, though many of them do not appear to be difficult for Lee where he acts on instincts.

On this note, action director Sammo Hung devises excruciating fight scenes to behold. With a balance of flair and realism, the close combat scenes are well choreographed to give a fair impression of street fights. Blows are short but powerful, where characters often embrace their environment and make use of what they can find to assist combat. The one involving Tak and antagonist Sacha (Chris Collins) on the rooftop was exceptionally sensational.

The best part of the film comes in the final third of Paradox where Koo builds up his inner frustrations and finds it painful to be rational. He eventually succumbs to his raw emotions where he realises his limitations. The audience may find it stressful to watch Lee in the film, but would subconsciously find his course of action justifiable.

Paradox is a film that discusses morality in a corrupt world and modern society where dynamics are so much more complicated and cold. Fathers would do anything to protect their child, but not without hurting their feelings in the process. People would be kidnapped where their organs would be harvested for the benefits of other powerful and wealthy individuals.

No matter how hard one fights against adversity, it is always difficult to not fight evil with evil given the emotional temptations and provocations. In such a brutal environment, Paradox explores exactly that where it isn’t interesting to discuss morality rationally.

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Paradox