Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
paul-96952
I too am impressed how this film entwined fiction around real events. Only after watching the film and then researching after did I learn the truth.Benicio plays the role of the ruthless Escobar with convincing ease, I will be watching this again as added to my list of all time favourites.
Kabir Kassam
After watching the first hour I couldn't help feeling that the film felt a little bit rushed- you didn't really get to know the characters or understand their relationships. You didn't feel any strong connections between them for example between Nick and his brother (It's not even made obvious that they are actually brothers until later than it should have been pointed out in the film. The script just felt weak and rushed and even the acting felt quite poor.That is, until around halfway through the film when this all changes when the real "action" takes place. You can see why Josh Hutcherson was cast in this role (after his roles in the Hunger Games). Benicio Del Toro looked the part however I thought he'd portray the character as more menacing and dangerous, to the point where you could feel just how powerful the character was when he walked into the room (See Wagner Moura's version from Narcos) You do end up feeling part of this gripping action thriller eventually. The tense action scenes are brilliant and you are definitely rewarded for sticking it out and continuing to watch after the first part. After seeing the trailer for this film, I couldn't wait to see it. The premise sounded great, a love story based around the worlds most notorious drug lord and the impact he had on the couple. Before watching the film, I'd seen IMDb's rating of it was a lot lower than what I expected it to be so I wasn't expecting to be blown away and I definitely wasn't in the first half. In the end I'm glad I stuck it out as I was pleasantly surprised by the 2nd hour. Not the greatest of films and a lot could have been done better but definitely worth a watch!
Cinefill1
-Escobar: Paradise Lost (also known as Paradise Lost) is a 2014 romantic thriller film, written and directed by Andrea Di Stefano.[ It is the directorial debut of Di Stefano. The film chronicles the life of a surfer who falls in love while working with his brother in Colombia and finds out that the girl's uncle is Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. -Of the storyline, Di Stefano claimed "the idea came from three sentences (I) heard from a police officer about a real-life young Italian fellow who went to Colombia to meet his brother, somehow became close to the Escobar family, and then got in trouble.--Critical response:-Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 52% approval rating, based on reviews from 41 critics, with an average score of 5.8/10 ,Metacritic gives the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". -At the Telluride Film Festival, Escobar: Paradise Lost received a generally positive critical response. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy called the film "an absorbing and suspenseful drug trade drama" along with citing that "del Toro's presence, like Brando's in The Godfather, looms over everything that happens here". McCarthy also stated that "Di Stefano shows some real directorial chops in the film's central and impressively extended action-suspense sequence". However, "the romantic interplay between Nick and Maria gets a bit tiresome and redundant due to the fact that they're both so extremely nice and agreeable; Nick's naivete and goody two-shoes Canadianism (he stresses that he's not a Yank) also prove wearisome". -Writing for Indiewire, Eric Kohn gave the film a B and praised the performances of del Toro and Hutcherson writing that del Toro "turns Escobar into a subdued terror whose ability to order murders with ease provides the movie with its chief source of dread". While Hutcherson "imbues the character with a believability that transcends the script's limitations". However, Kohn also criticised the film as it "fails to develop the rest of its characters as well as it does for its two central men. The screenplay is similarly marred by formula, lagging whenever it hits certain high melodramatic notes, and reminding us of the stakes in play with mopey, dime-store gravitas".
leonblackwood
Review: Why haven't they made a Pablo Escobar biopic? This movie only touches on a period of his life and I must admit, I did Google his life story afterwards because his life story is definitely intriguing. I don't think that anyone else could have played Escobar, except for Al Pacino in his Scarface days. Anyway, this film follows a young Canadian surfer, Nick (Josh Hutcherson) who moves to Colombia to be with his brother. Whilst living in the woods, he meets up with Pablo Escobar's niece, Maria (Claudia Traisac) and they fall in love with the blessings from her family. After getting engaged, he builds a relationship with Pablo but his brother is worried because of the dangerous world that surrounds him. Nick soon realises that he has entered a world of drugs, violence and corruption so he tries to leave with his brother to go back to Canada with Maria but Escobar has other plans for him. With the pressure of the politicians and the American government on his back, Pablo starts to clean house before handing himself into the authorities. He gives Nick a job to hide some of his assets with the help of a young villager but Pablo has become very paranoid and he doesn't want any loose ends. Nick ends up fighting for his life against Escobar's henchmen, which also puts his family and friends in danger. Personally, I wouldn't have chosen Josh Hutcherson for this role because of his innocent face and a lack of depth behind the eyes. Benicio Del Toro has plenty of depth behind his eyes and for a lot of the scenes, he only had to look at people to get his point across. Escobar is definitely a Robin Hood type of character who created a empire which is beyond my imagination. There's many stories about the notorious Medellin cocaine cartel but I think that film makers are to scared to bring it to the big screen, which is understandable. Anyway, it's definitely a film worth watching, if your interested in the Escobar empire but don't expect an in depth biopic. Interesting!Round-Up: Puerto Rico born Benecio Del Toro, 48, hit the big time as the weird speaking Fenster in the Usual Suspects in 1995 but he had starred in quite a few movies before that, like James Bond: Licence to Kill, the Indian Runner, Fearless with Jeff Bridges, China Moon and the under-rated Swimming With Sharks. He then went on to star in the Fan, the Funeral with Christopher Walken, Excess Baggage, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was a brilliant performance alongside Johnny Depp, Snatch and the Way of the Gun. He then won a Oscar for his supporting role in Traffic and he brought out 2 films in a 3 year period called the Pledge with Jack Nicholson and Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones. After that he got another supporting role Oscar nomination for 21 Grams and after another 2 year break, he starred in Sin City in 2005. He didn't return to the big screen until 2007, alongside Halle Berry in Things We Lost in the Fire and in 2008 he played Che in the 2 movie epic. After the disappointing Wolfman and Savages he starred in Thor 2 and the brilliant Guardians of the Galaxy so he's definitely one that picks his movies with a lot of thought. Personally, I think he is a unique actor who made this movie watchable and I can't wait to see him in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This is the first movie directed by Andrea Di Stefano who has starred in movies like Life of Pi, Nine with Daniel Day Lewis and Eat, Pray Love. For his first project, I honestly think that he put together a decent movie which has definitely touched on a interesting subject and the whole story with Nick was intense and dramatic but not as intriguing as the Pablo character. I did feel thoroughly entertained after watching the film but the ending was a bit weak because you don't know what happened with any of the characters. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: £3.75millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/drama/romance movies about a young Canadian surfer who falls for Pablo Escobar's niece and enters a world which puts his life in danger. 6/10
