Attack on Paradise: Die Hard-Style High-Rise Actioner — SkimNews
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- Attack on Paradise is directed by Bob Colaers in his second feature after horror comedy "Trizombie," with star Saïd Boumazoughe (Belgian-Moroccan) receiving a "created by" credit reflecting the film's personal-vision origins.
- Suleyman (Boumazoughe) is released after seven years in prison and returns to find his mother's 17-story housing project in Antwerp converted into crime boss Prince's underworld HQ — just as police finally launch a long-planned raid on what had been treated as a "no-go zone."
- Prince (Achmed Akkabi) is an international fugitive whose forces are "very well prepared" for the raid with surveillance cameras and heavy artillery, while the police operation expects and "even encourages" casualties.
- Suleyman gains a reluctant ally in cop Yasmine (Clara Claymans) after her SWAT team is "swiftly exterminated," and faces a colorful roster of lieutenants including pro boxer The Lion (Jamal Ben Saddik), former child soldier Minza (Rudy Mukendi), Albanian gun runner Tchuko (Soroush Helali), and ex-girlfriend Nikita (Imanuelle Grives).
- Reviewer singles out Steven Vanvolsem's "candied hue" cinematography, editor Brian Ent's "entertainingly messy" action, and a score by Maxim Lany and Jonas Nuttin that incorporates prayer-call-like motifs underscoring the hero's Muslim faith.
- Script by Sven Huybrechts, Boumazoughe, and cast member Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi is called the "most routine element," though the review concludes that the film's "energy and style to spare" outweigh its familiarity and could help Belgian action cinema "make some headway abroad."
Why it matters: A positive international review for a Belgian-Moroccan genre film that the reviewer frames as a potential breakthrough for Belgian action cinema abroad — a category the reviewer calls "probably not going to be the next big thing" but whose multicultural cast and 'Die Hard' DNA could give it commercial legs beyond its home market.
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