Paradox was released in 2016. It was directed and written by Michael Hurst and is starring Zoe Bell (who also started in Death Proof and Hateful Eight) and Adam Huss and Malik Yoba (from New York Undercover and Empire). As of the publish date of the review, it is available on Netflix. But that could change at any time.
Synopsis: A team builds a time machine for an unknown purpose and send one of their crew members (Jim) forward in time 1 hour. In the future, everyone is dead, the lab is attacked by unknown assailants, and everything is going to self destruct in 5 minutes. Jim goes back one hour and the team has to try and survive the next hour by figuring out what went wrong and why.
Type of Time Travel: the classic time loop. In this movie, there is a single timeline where if one goes back or forward they will run into a version of themselves or their ancestors. This type of time travel always creates a time loop or paradox, where things have to happen exactly the same every time, or the initial time travel won't happen at all. I love the paradox concept, but the multiple timeline concept intrigues me much more. Moving on...
Why it's great: it's a time travel murder mystery with a bit of comedy sprinkled in. And that ending...oh yeah, it could be a classic.
How it could be better: there's a ton of unnecessary profanity. The dialogue in the very beginning is pretty rough, but it improves as the movie goes on. And the gore is a bit excessive as well... There's lots and lots of blood in this flick. One of the first scenes has a headless corpse. So...yeah, be prepared for that.
Buy it, Stream it or Skip it: stream it. If you already have Netflix and you don't mind profanity and gore, check it out. Definitely not kid friendly, but the twist in the middle of the movie is excellent. And then there's another twist at the end. So yeah, definitely worth watching, but I wouldn't purchase it as a rental. It's a solid stream it.
What's the takeaway? One of the recurring themes of this movie is that you can't escape fate. No matter what you do, things will happen the way they were meant to happen. They're basically saying there's no such thing as free will. I'm personally not a fatalist. I believe there is free will. But once you make a decision, it's set in stone. That's why I love time travel movies, we all wish we could go back and change this or that and make our lives better. But the truth is, we have all the power to make our lives better right here and right now.
We could eat better, be nicer, work out more, try new things, meet new people and stop doing dumb stuff. We can do all those things today. We can examine our behaviors, get rid of all the vices and start practicing virtue. Time travel is my favorite science fiction concept, because it gives you power to make things better. But it never turns out that way, because it is in the present where we have free will.
The past is gone and the future is yet to come, that is...until someone actually invents a time machine......Uuuuntil then, make your own destiny and choose to become a holier, happier person. Peace ☮️
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