A group of Canadian good kids try to open up a surfing shop in some secluded beach near a jungle in Colombia. One of the kids, Nick, meets a beautiful local girl, Maria. They start dating and become a couple. The small town nearby gets one day a local clinic installed courtesy of a senator and benefactor...none other than Pablo Escobar, who is...Maria's uncle. Nick doesn't make much of it, but his friends warn him. One day some thugs, claiming to own the beach, threaten the Canadians. Later, the thugs have their dog attack Nick and he ends up with his arm injured.
At a family party, Nick is finally introduced to Pablo, who takes an interest in his injury. Then the beach thugs end up hanging dead from a tree in the jungle. Nick marries the girl and lives on Pablo's ranch where he of course ends up seeing things he shouldn't. Pablo has occasional words with him, always somewhat nice but always sinister.
Pablo has a justice minister killed and the government intensifies the manhunt for him. As a result the entire family, Nick now among them, has to constantly move, along with all the money, weapons, guards, hit men. That of course puts a strain on everyone. Nick's friends, his brother among them, basically disavow him.
Eventually, Pablo decides to turn himself in to the authorities, but first he has to secure all his wealth. He loads up a bunch of SUVs with his money that will be driven to different location in the country. Only the most trusted people will drive. And he picks Nick to be one of those. The plan is for Nick to drive to some small town, meet up with a farmer who will direct him somewhere where Nick is to unload the crates, then he's to kill the farmer, drive to a restaurant and call him. Nick has never killed anyone so he isn't very thrilled with the mission but what choice does he have? When he reaches the town instead of a farmer, a teenage kid approaches him, a kid who is married and has a child. So come time for Nick to kill the kid he has even more doubts. He tries to reason with the kid who doesn't understand, he pulls out the gun, the kid runs, Nick catches up with him and offers to help him escape. But once they get to the kid's place, they realize Pablo's people got there before. And Pablo isn't about to leave any loose ties...
Escobar: Paradise Lost isn't a movie about Escobar. It's a thriller about what it would be like for a peaceful outsider to end up by accident in Escobar's world. It's not clear how much time transpires in the movie. We get some historical bits, Escobar's stint as a senator, the assassination of the justice minister, and Escobar turning himself in. Geographically things are also messy. The beach, the jungle, Pablo's lairs are all a bit too close to each other. A more complicated problem for a movie that isn't about Escobar is that they hired Del Toro to play Escobar. And as always his performance is a bit too compelling for a secondary character. That said, his performance here isn't all that convincing. He gets the accent for the region fairly right but not entirely. His speech is too calculated, too threatening I think, after all, Nick is family and with his blessing. Claudia Hernandez is irresistibly beautiful and could pass for a Colombian girl, although why they didn't just hire one is odd since there is no shortage of stunning Colombian actresses. She also doesn't capture the accent all that well, but her gorgeous smile makes it all good. Josh Hutcherson does a good job as the naive foreigner who will have to face the ultimate dilemma about what he will do once he's in a life-threatening situation. Occasionally he overdoes the cluelessness though.
Escobar: Paradise Lost is entertaining and the historical bits about Escobar give it depth and make for a more interesting movie.
At a family party, Nick is finally introduced to Pablo, who takes an interest in his injury. Then the beach thugs end up hanging dead from a tree in the jungle. Nick marries the girl and lives on Pablo's ranch where he of course ends up seeing things he shouldn't. Pablo has occasional words with him, always somewhat nice but always sinister.
Pablo has a justice minister killed and the government intensifies the manhunt for him. As a result the entire family, Nick now among them, has to constantly move, along with all the money, weapons, guards, hit men. That of course puts a strain on everyone. Nick's friends, his brother among them, basically disavow him.
Eventually, Pablo decides to turn himself in to the authorities, but first he has to secure all his wealth. He loads up a bunch of SUVs with his money that will be driven to different location in the country. Only the most trusted people will drive. And he picks Nick to be one of those. The plan is for Nick to drive to some small town, meet up with a farmer who will direct him somewhere where Nick is to unload the crates, then he's to kill the farmer, drive to a restaurant and call him. Nick has never killed anyone so he isn't very thrilled with the mission but what choice does he have? When he reaches the town instead of a farmer, a teenage kid approaches him, a kid who is married and has a child. So come time for Nick to kill the kid he has even more doubts. He tries to reason with the kid who doesn't understand, he pulls out the gun, the kid runs, Nick catches up with him and offers to help him escape. But once they get to the kid's place, they realize Pablo's people got there before. And Pablo isn't about to leave any loose ties...
Escobar: Paradise Lost isn't a movie about Escobar. It's a thriller about what it would be like for a peaceful outsider to end up by accident in Escobar's world. It's not clear how much time transpires in the movie. We get some historical bits, Escobar's stint as a senator, the assassination of the justice minister, and Escobar turning himself in. Geographically things are also messy. The beach, the jungle, Pablo's lairs are all a bit too close to each other. A more complicated problem for a movie that isn't about Escobar is that they hired Del Toro to play Escobar. And as always his performance is a bit too compelling for a secondary character. That said, his performance here isn't all that convincing. He gets the accent for the region fairly right but not entirely. His speech is too calculated, too threatening I think, after all, Nick is family and with his blessing. Claudia Hernandez is irresistibly beautiful and could pass for a Colombian girl, although why they didn't just hire one is odd since there is no shortage of stunning Colombian actresses. She also doesn't capture the accent all that well, but her gorgeous smile makes it all good. Josh Hutcherson does a good job as the naive foreigner who will have to face the ultimate dilemma about what he will do once he's in a life-threatening situation. Occasionally he overdoes the cluelessness though.
Escobar: Paradise Lost is entertaining and the historical bits about Escobar give it depth and make for a more interesting movie.