Paradise Stop is a fun movie from the same team that brought us the hilarious South African comedy, White Wedding. This time, acting duo, Rapulana Seiphemo and Kenneth Nkosi, have banded with writer-director Jann Turner again to form the core unit behind Paradise Stop a crime comedy caper set against the backdrop of a truck stop in a sleepy little Limpopo town in South Africa.
Paradise Stop, a truck stop on the northern border linking cargo-carrying 16-wheelers from South Africa to Zimbabwe is the point at which troubled husband and relocated detective, Potso (Seiphemo) and "well-to-do" businessman and truck stop owner, Ben (Nkosi) collide. Potso locks onto a career-making series of high profile freeway heists only to realise that the man behind the crimes is his only friend.
The concept is similar to Heat, matching a cop up against a crook and letting the fur fly. The co-leads may not be on par with a De Niro and Pacino when it comes to drama, but this isn't a Michael Mann crime epic. The scope has been down-scaled from big city America to small town South Africa, and the focus has shifted to comedy.
In many ways, similar to Hot Fuzz's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Seiphemo and Nkosi are actually friends behind-the-scenes. This chemistry translated well in White Wedding and gives the actors an immediate history with Seiphemo the smooth, charming and straight-talking gentleman and Nkosi a more flamboyant, loud and funny man about town.
Both Seiphemo and Nkosi deliver good dramatic performances in Paradise Stop. They're lost some of the comedy tag team chemistry from White Wedding, yet are still convincing as Potso and Ben. The co-leads try to channel their familiarity into a palpable tension, but they don't share enough scenes to generate the spark. Overall, this diminishes the return on the enjoyment of Paradise Stop and stunts some of the comedy. Another performance worth mentioning is that of Vusi Kunene, who delivers the goods as the head honcho, General. His cool, calm and collected demeanor make him all the more intimidating - and his balanced performance carries great intensity.
Another flaw is that Paradise Stop takes too long to actually get going. It's so busy setting the scene, introducing the characters and giving the audience an account of domestic life that by the time the stakes are raised, the movie's almost over.
Punted as a hilarious, high-speed action-comedy doesn't help matters. For starters, it's not. The characters and teams may have the potential for a Guy Ritchie actioner with a comic twist, but the comedy is underplayed. In fact, Paradise Stop isn't sure whether it's going for action or comedy. The drama insists that the script is realistic enough for the audience to engage with the action, making it too serious for the comedy of a small town farce in the tone of Rat Race.
The cultural diversity and spill of languages is the perfect setting for misunderstanding, fish-out-of-water and comic scenarios. However, these cultural themes aren't exploited enough. There's a fear that they'll lose their audience if they try to be too wacky, funny or slapstick. Yet it's this very formula that works so well for long-running action-comedy franchises like Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour.
Perhaps there was too much focus on their marital situations instead of sticking to the cops-and-robbers story. Paradise Stop is desperately in need of a central plot device to link all the characters... a time constraint (e.g. a bomb) or a valuable item (briefcase filled with money) would have added to the pacing, tension and urgency of the action.
One constraint that does come into play is the budget, which allows for big truck rentals and a sponsored chopper. You can't help but feel that the film-makers could have focused on doing the little things better instead of over-arching for the big scenes. It's ambitious to hope that people won't notice a product placement helicopter, which while boosting production value, detracts from the impact of the climax and suspense.
Overall, Paradise Stop is a reasonably entertaining film... despite being overly ambitious, slow-to-start and stunted by an indecisive script. The language interplay is intriguing, the acting is good, the story line has potential as a TV series and there are a couple of good laughs in the proverbial melting pot. It's one of those films that will pass the time, but ends without making a full impression - a step in the right direction, but as with all honeymoons...
The bottom line: Half-baked.
