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Fantasia Fest 2026: Attack On Paradise Review
Image Credit: Fantasia IFF
Loading...Directed by: Bob Colaers
Written by: Said Boumazoughe, Sven Huybrechts & Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi
Starring:
Saïd Boumazoughe – Suleyman
Clara Cleymans – Yasmine
Achmed Akkabi – Prince
Soroush Helali – Tchuko
Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi – Musa
Jamal Ben Saddik – De Leeuw
Imanuelle Grives – Nikita
Ben Segers – Patrick
Fatima Khanfour – Fatma
Tim Jorissen – Kevin
Felix Meyer – Xander
Ward Kerremans – Van Dijck
Running Time: 96 minutes
Not Rated
While there will always be a place for pure action films, it’s hard to deny that they’ve receded into the background in recent years, particularly in Hollywood. Action tends to be an element in other genres whether sci-fi, superhero, thriller, horror or comedy. With Mission: Impossible done, Fast & Furious at a lull, and Bond still in the process of regenerating, it’s been slim pickings for someone wanting a pure action spectacle.
Fortunately, other countries are happy to pick up the slack. Case in point: Attack On Paradise. Bob Colaers’ Belgian film, which had its world premiere at Fantasia Fest on Sunday, draws comparisons to other actionfests but stands on its own fairly capable feet thanks to a few plot elements and a standout central performance from Saïd Boumazoughe.
Our film opens in Antwerp, Belgium as Suleyman (Boumazoughe) is heading home to deliver medication for his sick mother. An interaction with aggressive (and potentially racist) police turns violent, and one of them accidentally dies at Suleyman’s hands.
Seven years later, Suleyman is released from prison and returns to the home he shares with his mother Fatma (Fatima Khanfour). But he quickly learns that his flat block, the titular Paradise, is now home to gangs and drug dealers. At the top of Paradise sits crime lord Hamza (Achmed Akkabi), better known as Prince. Prince tempers his reputation for ruthless violence and crime by taking good care of many of the residents, turning him into something of a folk hero to them.
After a quick stop to an old friend, Suleyman heads home nervous about his reunion with his mother. However, unbeknownst to him he has horrible timing. Paradise is about to be raided by the police, including rookie Yasmine (Clara Cleymans).
Suleyman hardly has time to get the new lay of the land and have a tense conversation with Fatma before the police show up and things quickly turn violent. Through a twist of fate, he finds himself caught between Prince’s thugs and the police and must team with Yasmine to survive and get back up, floor by floor, to save his mother.
The most obvious (and unavoidable) comparisons here are of course The Raid and Dredd, both of which featured police moving into a crime-ridden apartment block. Those are both high bars to measure up against, something Attack on Paradise is acutely aware of. The script — credited to a threesome of Boumazoughe, Sven Huybrechts & Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi — takes pains to do what it can to shed those comparisons, and the focus on Suleyman as a bystander is a smart one. He’s one man stuck between two sides, neither of which are being particularly heroic.
There is a subtle message threaded through that set-up, and Colaers gives us just enough to a couple of supporting characters that we can make note of those themes. But at its core, this is a simple and straightforward action spectacle that wants to give bone-crunching fights, heavy gunfire and two decent people Die Hard-ing their way through the chaos.
The performances by Boumazoughe and Cleymans do a lot to help sell the story. Cleymans in particular doesn’t have much to work with; she’s a rookie cop and a single mom to a young daughter who becomes her motivation to get out. But she handles it well and tangles with the bad guys effectively. Boumazoughe is the core of the film, and he carries it on his capable back. Suleyman isn’t quite the terse, silent type; the actor portrays him with that just enough of that badass energy while still giving him soul and depth.
The rest of the cast is doing what they can with thinly sketched roles; Akkabi balances menace and charm as Prince, while Soroush Helali and Jamal Ben Saddik stand out as his two most prominent underlings. Fatima Khanfour provides the emotional core for as Suleyman’s mother. Most of the roles are a bit underwritten; Imanuelle Grives’ Prince loyalist Nikita feels like a keen idea that was never further developed, but the actors do what’s required to add some weight to the scenes between the action.
When it comes to the action, Colaers generally delivers. The fights go up and down the apartment block and make strong use of the different floors and locations to keep the fights visually interesting. Everything from combs to waterbeds get in on the fun. Colaers employs a disappointing level of fake-looking CGI blood that becomes more obvious with every headshot, but otherwise these are solidly staged battle scenes with just enough downtime between that the pacing never trips up.
Colaers does lose a little bit of momentum in the final act when it’s time to wrap things up; the story’s progression makes sense, but it forces some characters into making decisions for sake of the plot instead of vice versa. But it’s hard to ding a film too hard on something that is part and parcel to the genre. Attack on Paradise wants to kick ass and take names, and it accomplishes that well enough.
Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal, Quebec from July 16th through August 2nd.
