‘The Paragon’ Review – Psychic Comedy Thriller Finds Fair Success

The Paragon gains a lot of momentum, and finds a lot of success, in the basic intrigue of its premise. A married man and former tennis champion, Dutch (Benedict Wall), suffers a hit-and-run car accident that throws his life for a loop. Out of anger based on lost time and opportunity, he hires a psychic to help him find the car’s driver and exact revenge.

The movie delivers on that premise, even if it does so lightly, and that’s a big win. A lot of projects struggle upon liftoff because they bite off more than they can chew in their synopsis alone; when you’re done with The Paragon, you should at least come away satisfied.

Just don’t expect shock and awe. This is an on-the-face budget thriller with reverent stitches of comedy placed throughout. After an opening scene that could pass as borderline horror, the thing wastes no time digging into the main course. There’s little at all in the way of introductions or settling in, and within minutes, the main plot is in motion.

Coming in at less than 90 minutes means being able to make that structure work. The Paragon is less about specific characters and more about their place in the story. Performances (which are all good) thrive on archetypes, devoid of special detail and dependent on familiarity. But in the same boat, the film adopts a blistering pace, and that bit doesn’t work quite as well. The characters are fun and work well in their roles, but when you’ve seen it all before (and on the character front here, you have) hitting the ground running with them becomes really hard to buy into.

You wait for something to stick out on the highway, blowing past sign after sign without stopping to even read them. It’s all a blur. The ride may be a nice time, but it’ll be over before you know it. That’s a slightly over-complicated metaphor for The Paragon, but it works.

Returning to that spooky opening scene, the film does well for itself in hearkening back to it in consistent intervals. It feels like the screenplay is aware when things are trending towards uninteresting, as it’s always about then that the screen shutters and you get another semi-scare to shake things up. Of course, it’d be better if the story could substantiate itself without having to resort to cutaway teases to bide time as it goes.

Within these scare sequences are manic, colorful frames that further the former success in creating standout moments. More credit to the film where it’s due, the cinematography and general aesthetic effort are a huge highlight. Lighting dictates the mood more so than many blockbusters manage today, and everything is framed with a subtle intention and a tangible air of expertise. The Paragon is an efficient cosmetic achievement.

The costuming is excellent, too. At the risk of overusing the word subtle, it works here too, and pretty much everywhere else; the film does a good job of faintly detailing things to the exact extent that it should. The outlandish scenario that it posits feels more plausible and realistic as a result of this balance, and displays of supernatural powers against bland, brick-by-brick backgrounds form the perfect examples of such success.

The Paragon is a workable, small-scale comedy thriller. The idea is super fun, and in execution, it isn’t offending anybody. You could definitely ask for more in a few places, sure. This isn’t an event film or anything that’s changing the standard. But again, it works, and sometimes that’s good enough given budgetary restrictions and conceptual ceilings. Give this one a go for a brief, fun romp that you may not mind thinking about once in a while. The Paragon is just what it should be, not fully what it could be, and no more either way.

The Paragon is currently playing in select theaters and is available on Digital platforms courtesy of Doppelgänger Releasing.