‘Attack on Paradise’ Review: Under Siege From Both Criminals and Cops, a Hero Battles Upward in a Zesty High-Rise Actioner
Saïd Boumazoughe gets a “created by” credit just below director Bob Colaers at the end of “Attack on Paradise,” amplifying the fact that this project is very much the Belgian-Moroccan star’s realized personal fantasy of an action vehicle. That translates into something a lot like “Die Hard,” with elements of “Assault on Precinct 13,” “High Rise” and more thrown in — albeit with a distinctly more diverse cast/character roll call, reflecting both the actor’s own background and Antwerp’s multicultural modern reality.
That adjustment aside, there’s nothing conceptually very original to this tale of a prodigal son returning to find his cranky old ma requiring rescue from both organized crime and a police raid. But it’s got energy and style to spare, making for a genre exercise whose pleasures considerably outweigh its familiarity. If Belgian action cinema is probably not going to be the next big thing, nonetheless this highly enjoyable, good-humored effort should help it make some headway abroad.
Lanky, hoody-clad Suleyman (Boumazoughe) is minding his own business walking home one night when a car nearly runs into him, triggering some choice words. Unfortunately the unmarked vehicle’s drivers are cops all too willing to arrest and pin dubious charges on their non-white, gangbanger-looking quarry. Seven years later, our hero gets released from prison. He heads straight to infirm mother Fatma (Fatima Khanfour), who turns on a dime from tears of joy at this return to slap-happy rage over his “abandonment.”
But all too soon, there are far worse perils to worry about. In his absence, the housing project Suley grew up in got taken over by the crime boss known as Prince (Achmed Akkabi). That international fugitive from justice has turned its seventeen stories into his personal underworld HQ. Police have until now treated this illicit empire as a “no-go zone.” Today, however, they’re finally executing a long-planned raid to seize the boss, shut down his operations, and put everybody in prison—though apparently racking up casualties is expected, even encouraged.
Alas, the bad guys are very well prepared for just such an occasion, in terms of surveillance cameras as well as heavy artillery. Worse yet for our protagonist, this battle kicks off just moments after his maternal reunion, when he’s gone to the building’s basement to retrieve belongings in storage. The mayhem is so immediately widespread, simply getting back up to mom’s flat proves life-threatening.
Suleyman gains a reluctant ally in cop Yasmine (Clara Claymans), as the rest of her SWAT team gets swiftly exterminated. He commits to helping her cause, too — which means fighting off Prince’s innumerable flunkies and his chief lieutenants. The latter consist of brutish pro boxer The Lion (Jamal Ben Saddik), former Congolese child soldier Minza (Rudy Mukendi), Albanian gun runner Tchuko (Soroush Helali), and drug-deals overseer Nikita (Imanuelle Grives), who is extra-problematic because she and Suleyman used to be an item.
The headlong pacing allows nary a breather, though there are enough wry notes, character quirks and offbeat details (remote-control doors, goats, a knife fight on a waterbed) to prevent macho monotony from setting in. With scant time for backstory, we must simply accept that Suley is a near-invincible one-man army, and Boumazoughe’s air of beleaguered resourcefulness makes that easy to swallow. The supporting figures are colorful enough, though Akkabi’s sneering chief villain arguably makes less of an impression than his subordinates.
“Colorful” is definitely the word for Steven Vanvolsem’s cinematography, which bathes the gritty settings in candied hues — another credulity-stretching element that works just fine. Editor Brian Ent helps punch across physical action that is not dazzling à la “John Wick,” going instead for an entertainingly messy, not-too-acrobatic tenor. As energy continually ramps upward, the score by Maxim Lany and Jonas Nuttin moves from ominous horns to pulsing electronica, with some neat incorporation of prayer-call-like motifs underlining the hero’s Muslim faith.
If the script by Sven Huybrechts (of WWII thriller “Torpedo”), Boumazoughe and fellow cast member Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi is the most routine element here, it nonetheless rehashes well-worn ideas at a brisk clip. The climax could be a little more climactic, but otherwise Colaers’ second directorial feature — following smaller-scaled horror comedy “Trizombie” — provides too good a time while you’re watching to quibble about how quickly it may fade from memory.
That adjustment aside, there’s nothing conceptually very original to this tale of a prodigal son returning to find his cranky old ma requiring rescue from both organized crime and a police raid. But it’s got energy and style to spare, making for a genre exercise whose pleasures considerably outweigh its familiarity. If Belgian action cinema is probably not going to be the next big thing, nonetheless this highly enjoyable, good-humored effort should help it make some headway abroad.
Lanky, hoody-clad Suleyman (Boumazoughe) is minding his own business walking home one night when a car nearly runs into him, triggering some choice words. Unfortunately the unmarked vehicle’s drivers are cops all too willing to arrest and pin dubious charges on their non-white, gangbanger-looking quarry. Seven years later, our hero gets released from prison. He heads straight to infirm mother Fatma (Fatima Khanfour), who turns on a dime from tears of joy at this return to slap-happy rage over his “abandonment.”
But all too soon, there are far worse perils to worry about. In his absence, the housing project Suley grew up in got taken over by the crime boss known as Prince (Achmed Akkabi). That international fugitive from justice has turned its seventeen stories into his personal underworld HQ. Police have until now treated this illicit empire as a “no-go zone.” Today, however, they’re finally executing a long-planned raid to seize the boss, shut down his operations, and put everybody in prison—though apparently racking up casualties is expected, even encouraged.
Alas, the bad guys are very well prepared for just such an occasion, in terms of surveillance cameras as well as heavy artillery. Worse yet for our protagonist, this battle kicks off just moments after his maternal reunion, when he’s gone to the building’s basement to retrieve belongings in storage. The mayhem is so immediately widespread, simply getting back up to mom’s flat proves life-threatening.
Suleyman gains a reluctant ally in cop Yasmine (Clara Claymans), as the rest of her SWAT team gets swiftly exterminated. He commits to helping her cause, too — which means fighting off Prince’s innumerable flunkies and his chief lieutenants. The latter consist of brutish pro boxer The Lion (Jamal Ben Saddik), former Congolese child soldier Minza (Rudy Mukendi), Albanian gun runner Tchuko (Soroush Helali), and drug-deals overseer Nikita (Imanuelle Grives), who is extra-problematic because she and Suleyman used to be an item.
The headlong pacing allows nary a breather, though there are enough wry notes, character quirks and offbeat details (remote-control doors, goats, a knife fight on a waterbed) to prevent macho monotony from setting in. With scant time for backstory, we must simply accept that Suley is a near-invincible one-man army, and Boumazoughe’s air of beleaguered resourcefulness makes that easy to swallow. The supporting figures are colorful enough, though Akkabi’s sneering chief villain arguably makes less of an impression than his subordinates.
“Colorful” is definitely the word for Steven Vanvolsem’s cinematography, which bathes the gritty settings in candied hues — another credulity-stretching element that works just fine. Editor Brian Ent helps punch across physical action that is not dazzling à la “John Wick,” going instead for an entertainingly messy, not-too-acrobatic tenor. As energy continually ramps upward, the score by Maxim Lany and Jonas Nuttin moves from ominous horns to pulsing electronica, with some neat incorporation of prayer-call-like motifs underlining the hero’s Muslim faith.
If the script by Sven Huybrechts (of WWII thriller “Torpedo”), Boumazoughe and fellow cast member Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi is the most routine element here, it nonetheless rehashes well-worn ideas at a brisk clip. The climax could be a little more climactic, but otherwise Colaers’ second directorial feature — following smaller-scaled horror comedy “Trizombie” — provides too good a time while you’re watching to quibble about how quickly it may fade from memory.