Paradise City (2022) User Reviews

Looks like amateur tv show extended episode

[norbertasj · 3/10 · 14 November 2022]

Any 80-90 Miami vice or even Acapulco heat episode has better acting. Cant understand why such pros like Willis and Travolta did not give any advice for director or writer. Maybe they are more tired than Nicolas Cage.

Hawaii nature ahots did not save those bad dialogues, that dond fit no cinema, no theater stage - too flat. No right emotion. Bachground music fits more of robin hood or dragon and dungeon scenery, but not Hawaii.

Every second scene is out of logic. If you have drug lord in custody and stand before 20 of his goons aiming at you. You dont drop him, but use him as a live shield. BAD.

Bruce Willis, John Travolta and Stephen Dorff. 3 powerhouse actors, who are unfortunately starring in a 100% FLOP of a movie.

[imseeg · 4/10 · 13 November 2022]

NO suspense. NO thrill. The action is laughably amateurish.

NOT a Bruce Willis movie, because (as usual) he is only starring in it for 15 minutes tops.

NOT a John Travolta movie either, because he isnt the leading actor either.

Stephen Dorff DOES have a bigger role and he is still as cool as in his younger days, but he is surrounded by LOTS of terrible supporting actors, who take up way too much screentime. Bummer.

The bad: LOTS of silly dialogue and LOTS of silly storylines. The direction is cheap and uninspired. With such great acting talents, more could have come of it. But it didnt...

Not any good then? It's always nice to see these 3 old powerhouse actors, but it only reminds me that they used to star in much better movies in the eighties and nineties...

NOT recommended. 100% FLOP.

Very forgettable action thriller...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 24 December 2022]

Actually, I wasn't really harboring much of any grand expectations for the 2022 action thriller "Paradise City" from director Chuck Russell. Not that it is based on the director or anything, but the numerous movies these last couple of years coming from Bruce Willis just haven't been top notch stellar movies, if you know what I mean.

But still, I had the opportunity to watch "Paradise City", and I do believe in giving a movie a fair chance. So of course I opted to sit down and watch this movie without ever having heard about it.

The storyline in "Paradise City", as written by Edward Drake, Corey Large and Chuck Russell, was pretty simplistic. I mean, you could leave the movie for an extended period of time to go do something else and return only to find that you were not missing out on anything. Well, at least that makes "Paradise City" a very easy movie to watch, as it requires zero invenstment of attention from the viewers.

The movie does have some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Stephen Dorff, Noel Gugliemi and Branscombe Richmond. However, I can't really claim that I witnessed any particularly memorable or outstanding performances as the movie trotted on.

Was I entertained by "Paradise City"? Hardly. Yet, I actually still managed to sit through all 92 minutes of it. However, once the movie came to an end, I must admit that I was left with an overwhelming sense of 'was that it?' and a feeling of having wasted 92 minutes on nothing.

If you enjoy action thrillers, then there are far, far better movies readily available out there. And "Paradise City" came and went without leaving any kind of impression. So this was just another dubious movie in a long line of dubious movies starring Bruce Willis.

My rating of "Paradise City" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Paradise city is awful, worse than a B-Movie

[panagiotis1993 · 2/10 · 15 November 2022]

The worst thing about this film has to be the dialogue, there is not even one piece of dialogue that didn't make me cringe hard, it feels like a school movie project. It's a really really poorly written film, all the characters are extremely unlikable and the acting is bad and it feels wooden and souless, the performances feel forced and as a viewer you don't experience any feelings or emotions by watching it, it feels empty, like a void. What was the budget for this movie? 100 dollars? It feels like it. On IMDB it says that the budget was 20 million dollars. What??? You could produce a better film with 1.000 dollars.

The only performance that I found to be somewhat decent was that of Stephen Dorff, sad they didn't give him more screen time. I found Travolta's acting to be mediocre and flat. The worst characters have to be Ryan and Savannah, their acting is atrocious, you can almost feel pain by watching them interact. There is no suspense, no excitement in this film, no build up, its boring, dull. The film gives you the impression that it took 1 week to shoot the entire thing, it feels rushed, incomplete. Also I don't like the whole theme of ''Mr. Bad White Guy vs Hawaii'', im tired of these kinds of themes in movies lately. I feel kinda bad for judging this movie after I learned about Willis' health but im just trying to be honest about the product. Based on what I read on Willis' condition he did a pretty good job in this movie even though he doesn't do much.

Also I noticed certain things that seemed really dumb to me like finding a smartphone with a metal detector, getting the truth out of someone through some weird drug related ritual and Travolta's character whole plastic surgery thing. Also seeing Ryan Swan trying to do what is supposed to be ''detective work'' was laughable. After the reveal of ''Paradise City'' I though of renaming it to ''Cringe City'' it was a badly written idea, kinda happy they attacked it haha. Buck throwing a party after burning down Paradise City, who does that? For an action movie there isnt much action and for a thriller there is nothing thrilling about it. This doesn't feel like an action movie or a thriller, it feels like a letdown. The only thing I enjoyed about this movie were certain scenes where you can see beautiful nature landscapes. I consider myself a hero for watching the entire thing. I'll be kind though and I'll give this movie a 2/10. Please do not waste your time on this.

John Travolta & Bruce Willis vacationed...

[borukad1 · 2/10 · 16 November 2022]

It feels like John Travolta & Bruce Willis vacationed in Hawaii and ran into Stephen Dorff and someone lost a bet... and this movie was made the following week before they all flew back home.

I seriously can't believe this movie was made with these stars. Sad.

There were scenes where it felt the actors (if they could be called that) were reading the lines for the first time. No suspense, no character development, poor timing...

Did the female "actress" just get lip fillers the day of shooting, maybe that's why the acting was so poor? I'm looking for reasonable explanations as to justify what prevented her from trying to act... It felt like she has no experience but paid her way to be on the set with some movie stars for fun... she wasn't even trying.

At least they had some fun in a beautiful location :)

Disappointed

[itsabacus2009 · 1/10 · 5 December 2022]

Okay, I'm not going to lie, I only gave this film a shot because of Bruce; great guy and actor. But sadly, this movie clearly misses its mark. The story is boring, the pacing is bad, and whom ever directed this, needs to turn in their Director's cars; this movie is just a mess of nothingness. Quite frankly my 5 year old could've done a better job directing this film; did they even try? It's as if they took a good idea and plot and just ignored the whole point of making a movie; to entertain and keep its viewers interested in the film, that's the point. It's no wonder this movie flopped big time; simply sad.

Adult films have better acting

[myotherside-55004 · 1/10 · 17 November 2022]

Not sure how this ever left the camera and went to the editing, best guess is that it didn't. Terrible acting, terrible videography, nothing makes this movie worth while. I'd venture to say that the budget stopped at the top two names and location, but even then, the acting was so bad that I can't imagine it was just the writing. There is no story, no good acting, no emotion. The movie felt like a joke in the beginning because of the acting, but we soon realized that it's just the way the movie is. Nothing improved and it just got harder and harder to watch. I've seen some bad acting, and this takes the cake.

Waste of talent and time

[jeffay · 13 December 2022]

Very poor acting from the main characters. Should have just concentrated Bruce Willis and John Travolta instead of the rest of the amateur cast. The plot is not believable, neither are the 'natives'. The rest of the cast are totally unconvincing. The words came out alright but their lack of connection with their facial expressions and body language is laughable. Bad guys, aside from Travolta, are about as menacing as NOT!! Just because you are carrying an automatic weapon and say a few F-words, does not make a convincing thug. There's no humour, no excitement and the plot is extremely predictable. Enough said of a non-event.

Embarrassing and disappointed isn't even the word.

[jcrinvestors · 1/10 · 15 November 2022]

If you think you're in for a good movie with some legendary actors... well then don't watch it.

It's bad I mean really really bad. I kept watching it because it was funny it was so bad. But not "cult" classic funny. It looks like a cheesy cheap tv citcom.

Can't believe I had to watch travolta and Bruce Willis and Stephen Dwarf humiliate themselves by sinking to this level of bad. The whole movie is hilarious the tribe folk all have terrible Botox and lip injections and can't even take the screen without looking ridiculous and confused "duck faces" with no expression. How are you going to be convincing in a movie if your face DOESN'T MOVE?!? Just stop already. The fight scenes and gun training are soooo bad it's like I said "funny" If you're gonna play a cop or RAMBO maybe just maybe you should learn how to at least hold a gun.

Anyway I could go on forever.

Watch it if you can make it past first 10min.

I liked it

[hogankaspar · 2/10 · 16 March 2023]

The Thai chick was hot. Bruce Willis can never do wrong in my opinion. Throw in a hot Thai chick. Who cares about the story. Thai chick was hot. Did I mention the Thai chick? She was hot. Was the film plot flat? Yes it was. Was the Thai chick hot? Absolutely. Was there any suspense? None whatsoever. But the Thai chick... she was outrageously hot. Would I watch it. Absolutely for the hot Thai chick. Apparently she is a goodwill embassador with the UN! That's really impressive. It's probably because she is so hot. I read she is 33. That's outstanding because that's kinda old. But she is so hot. In conclusion the movie was awful. The Thai chick was hot. But she can't act. She was painful to listen to but she's hot.

Bad acting

[laurenhkinsella · 2/10 · 19 November 2022]

I love Hawaii been many times, so love the scenery and all the places I've been and seen.... However........ I saw the trailer and saw the actors.... I thought... wow, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Stephen Dorff, this has be be a great movie. Was I wrong! This was one of the worst movies I've seen in a while. Love all the BIG name actors in this but the worst acting I've seen from these actors EVER! Great location and cinematic.. but the acting is horrible. Don't waste your time.

The story was good but could've been done (with better acting skills) much better.

I serious think, John Travolta and Bruce Willis did this movie to get a free trip To Hawaii.. lol. Seriously not worth the time.

Nice film

[jkhscsi · 9/10 · 5 January 2023]

Watched the movie. I liked beautiful places. Light action movie, and 2 plot twists were not expected. Travolta should have played a friend of Willis, not an enemy. I'm glad that action movie legends are still being filmed. I recommend. Didn't waste your time. It was not expected that Bruce Willis remained alive after the beginning of the film, and who Travolta turned out to be. For a long time there were no such easy and not forced militants. Better than another actor would have taken on the role of a friend of Willis, for example, Stallone or Dolph Lundgren or Eric Roberts. To have a truly stellar cast.

Not the worst film I've seen, and it has BEAUTIFUL scenery.

[BenW1999 · 6/10 · 11 November 2022]

Not the worst thing I've seen, and beautiful scenery.

Start with the negatives, the plot isn't the greatest at all, stuff just sort of happens, and the acting from the supporting cast isn't exactly the greatest. Also, someone gets shot in the leg and ties a belt BELOW the wound yet survives?

On a positive note though, BRUCE WILLIS ACTUALLY ACTS in this film. The majority of his films in recent years have seen Willis just bumble through his spoon fed lines, but he actually acts and gets a fair amount of screen time. John Trovolta also puts in a decent performance.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful as well.

The film is average, but its to be expected with a modern day Bruce Willis film.

Don't shoot the guest

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 19 November 2022]

Ian Swan (Bruce Willis) is a bounty hunter. He has caught his bounty on the Hanna Coast of Maui. Unfortunately his bounty has goons who show up with automatic weapons as Swan takes a dive and becomes shark food in the first scene. Unfortunately he is still alive in the flashbacks. Ian's son Ryan (Blake Jenner) shows up on the island and meets Robbie Cole (Stephen Dorff) another bounty hunter who used to work with his father until Robbie hooked up with Ian's wife, but Ryan is not his kid as he would be in so many films. The film concentrates on Senator Kane (Branscombe Richmond) backer Buckly (John Travolta). Buckly wants to mine on sacred lands. Paradise City is a hold out. Cole suspects Buckly is funded by Bilford a large bounty drug lord from the Midwest.

John Travolta did his best in this stinker. That and the pretty women were the high points. The plot was not great or anywhere believable. No members of Gun N Roses were injured during the making of this film.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

Sad swan song the careers of these great actor.

[linda-93355-37097 · 3/10 · 5 December 2022]

4 minutes into the movie it comes crumbling down very fast, the shoot out is so dumb and unrealistic (like an 80s low budget action movie). Then Bruce has a stunt double that does not even look remotely close to Bruce (clean shaven head, darker skin tone, muscled).

What more can I say, I didn't watch the rest of the movie it was a lot to tolerate. It is sad to see such great actors as Bruce and John in such a horrible production, even their acting is no convincing at all. They can't even get simple dialogue secenes right.

Bruce has been releasing a number of these horrible D grade films in recent years, it is sad to see John follow the same avenue.

The worst - shot on iPhone

[pwdqwcf · 1/10 · 12 November 2022]

I think this was meant to be an old CSI show. It was some of the worst acting I have seen. The effects and camera film was awful- I think this might have been shot on an iPhone and the graphics were done by a college class.

John and Bruce were ok but really, they were not in the movie that much. They had plenty of cheesy lines, bad moments, and a few funny ones. The story line was not that great. I don't want to give any of the plot away but this turd didn't really have one.

There were some parts that gave you hopes of a good movie but they were quickly ended.

I can wrap this up by saying - - Almost so bad it's funny. Don't give it a shot.

Wondering why Bruce Willis and John Travolta would work on this movie.

[jajudarshan · 4/10 · 4 December 2022]

First of all its total waste of talented and reputed casting.

The movie lacks all the basics it takes to make a good film. The plot, writing and direction all were lacking to make it a movie worth watching. There's no suspense to keep the audiences on their seats till the last.

Talking about story it seems good to me but with some improvements it would have been wonderful. Same goes for the writing, the ending seemed so blunt, like it was just a cold good bye.

While Bruce Willis and John Travolta give justice to their roles while some of the cast were not up to the mark.

To sum it up it's average which lacks the potential.

Not so good.

[theop-71378 · 3/10 · 14 November 2022]

Really a cheese ball of a movie Minus the Hawaiian scenery, cinematography and native/cultural inclusions it's absolute cheese.

Travolta, Dorff and Willis were pretty much true to form film stars, but less than stellar performance from anywhere else.

The plot is absolutely predictable and you've seen it a thousand times before. It has the feel of "throw this together quickly and enjoy our time on the islands". The action scenes were fairly unrealistic for the most part.

I almost just turned it off about 20 minutes in, but decided to weather through it.

That being said, I did enjoy all the Hawaiian aspects of it.

Sadly big name actors do not make a moive

[jesshutch · 3/10 · 13 November 2022]

This movie in my humble opinion could have had some amazing scenery .. it's filmed in Hawaii.. while the scene shot in paradise city was beautiful more could have been done and maybe not film it at night.

Acting.. or writing ... either was responsible for this being a three star rating. It's hard to make a movie.. and this would be a show I would show to my students to show them what can cause a bad movie.

Main stream actors... so what... they didn't make the movie any better... we need to stop paying actors that are already wealthy and put more effort behind unknown actors. Bring them forward.. dont put John on your inventory sheet and expect a block buster..

Just ... do better... this fake it till we make it .. really needs to stop.. if you dont know how to do something .. learn.. then get the cash together to make a movie...

End of a career

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 19 February 2023]

What a way to end a career. This film's release was subsequently followed by the news that Willis was retiring due to a brain condition, and more recently we've learnt that he's suffering from dementia. All eyes on him here then, but of course he's barely in it, often doubled, and with just a few half-hearted lines of dialogue fed to him by others in an ear piece. Sadly, the rest of the film isn't much cop either. There are lots of different characters, none of them interesting, including a cheesy John Travolta and a slumming it Stephen Dorff. The most surprising thing is that this one was directed by Chuck Russell, who once made the class act that is THE BLOB.

Great Cast That's Been Criminally Misused

[Ram-Jun · 4/10 · 11 February 2023]

This movie had such a great cast of popular actors, mainly Bruce Willis, John Travolta and Stephen Dorff. But the story lacked direction and material so much.

Some of the actors were just baaaad, like the girl cop who eventually falls for the protagonist in the most cliched way. She could not convince a bunch of children with that acting, she was overdoing everything and her expressions were exaggerating most of the time.

Also the guy who usually executes the hits and the other muscular henchman had me rolling my eyes every time they said something, the way they carried themselves made them look like robots mimicking human behaviour.

So many moments didn't make any sense and weren't convincing at all. When the girl took the protagonist to investigate the beach and recover some materials while wearing a tight pink bikini.. That's like going to work wearing small shorts and a tank top. And Although they were at the beach obviously but the shots and focus of the camera was more like a modelling scene for the girl than about following the story. Most of the close shots or scenes of her were focusing on her body in a way that would throw you off from following what the scene is about.

And a lot of the other scenes seemed more like a show of hot and sexy people pretending to know what they're doing and they were more like modelling than acting.

The cinematography in general was so bad and I lost track and interest of the story before half way through the movie.

The sequences and events were not engaging and the whole story itself could've been handled much better.

I only kept watching this movie till the end cause I like Bruce Willis, John Travolta and Stephen Dorff, but they've been criminally misused in this film.

Basically just another TV-show grade Hawaii Five-O or (latest) Magnum P.I. episode made into a movie.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 7/10 · 14 December 2022]

Casting three great actors - Bruce Willis, John Travolta and Stephen Dorff was the only draw this film really had. Luckily director Chuck Russell did a great job directing his cast, specifically Willis with his medical condition, especially when all other directors that have recently directed Willis, have failed to bring out his best. He actually was not bad compared to his recent films that all flopped that were written and directed by Edward Drake, of whom also co-wrote this film, and probably contributed to the cheesy parts throughout the narrative.

The story had a few twists, but overall nothing revolutionary. It was well shot with beautiful scenery and sets. The cinematography was excellent, and the action scenes were well directed and choreographed. The score however was your typical B-film quality - loud, constant and unfitting for the most part. Bruce Willis, John Travolta and Stephen Dorff certainly deserve better, but the current 3.6/10 rating is unfair. This was still a fun one-time watch. The 92 min runtime flew by with decent pacing, and aside from some cheesy and cliched dialogue and scenes, I still enjoyed it. It's a well deserved and generous 7/10 from me. Maybe that's a little too generous, but I did just see this film right after seeing yet another Edward Drake flop, Detective Knight Redemption, of which was a joke compared to this film.

Dialled In

[maddy-982-627019 · 2/10 · 27 December 2022]

Very rarely does a cast of this calibre dial it in so badly. Why did they agree to make this pile of crap? Terrible plot, terrible script, awful acting. It is painful to watch this movie and a complete waste of time and effort.

I can't actually believe this got beyond the script stage never mind get made, edited (?) and released. Something went wrong somewhere along the line and all the actual acting was removed. The actors speak all the lines with no emotion or feeling leaving it impossible to care about anything or anyone on screen. One of the worst movies I've ever seen. And does not deserved the number of characters I have to write to submit this review!

3 Seasoned Actors + 1 Good Director + Low Budget

[nightringer-76840 · 3/10 · 20 November 2022]

So we have 3 seasoned actors having a good time making a movie in great location. A decent story. An experienced director of action movies. However, it's a very, very low budget film. They are having a good reunion but not a good movie.

Stephen Dorff and John Travolta were clearly having a good time with Bruce Willis who was clearly not in his prime no more. Bruce is still trying to leave marks and earn as much as possible considering his condition.

The director is not seriously developed the storyline further and prefer to use whatever provided on his lap. He probably made this film in B film style, fast and cheap.

I don't think Bruce's, Travolta's and Dorff's fans will appreciate this film. I was planning to give 1 star, but I gave 3 because pulling out Travolta from his semi retired status is difficult enough without Bruce Willis' efforts behind the scene, especially for such a low grade film. And at the least, they have a good time making it and got paid.

2 for the scenery

[uhtjuebgj · 2/10 · 22 August 2023]

Absolutely worst bucket of trash I've ever seen. Filmed on Oahu, call it Maui. Public shootouts and killings "buried" by the bad guys, stripper's are the head informants, guy jumps ten stories into a hotel fish pond 2' deep, machine gunned and crawls out. Complete moronic writing. Since I live on Maui I kept looking for Maui scenes but instead had MMA cages on the beach, locals all made to look like thugs, hot bikini blonds everywhere. Really loved the secret paradise village on the beach, all speaking gibberish written by some Hollywood hacks. If this is what these washed up stars are making now I almost feel sorry for them. They should be ashamed as I feel for watching this drivel.