Disclaimer: There are a few moments with flashing/strobing lights that may be too much for sensitive viewers.
Revenge movies are an interesting genre. The reason the main protagonists want revenge always varies. Whether it is getting revenge for the death of a loved one or trying to settle a score, revenge movies are a fun genre to watch. The Paragon takes the outline of a revenge film and twists it onto its head. Instead of going about it the usual way, Butch, played by Benedict Wall, decides to take an unusual method to get his revenge.
The film starts with our character Butch getting hit by a car and being brought back to life with the help of a defibrillator. Due to the accident, Butch has a broken leg which causes a ripple effect on his life. He loses his job. His marriage is in shambles so he decides he wants to find the person that ruined his life. How Butch goes about doing this is shown in a funny montage that has him questioning random people about the car that hit him.
During his search, Butch sees a sign to learn how to be a psychic and feels that this will be the best way to find the person that hit him. As stated previously, this is not your average revenge movie. The interactions between Butch and his trainer Lara, played by Florence Noble, are funny due to the dynamic of their relationship. Lara’s father trained her and her brother Haxon, played by Jonny Brugh, and they were told about a mysterious object known as the Paragon. Their father made it his mission to find this object and once he did, Haxon betrayed the father for it. Lara is training Butch to help her find the Pragon and use it to restore her past.
The concept of multiverses is talked about in a way that is reminiscent of Back to the Future. Lara knows that if they change something from the past it will affect the future and Butch wants to make it like he was never hit by the car. This side story gets complicated once Butch meets and finds the person that hit him with her car. The driver is a single mom who had a drinking problem but because she hit Butch her life changed around and she has become a better mom to her child. If Butch were to go back and change the past the future for this mom will be completely different.
There are some interesting concepts talked about in this movie that might resonate with the viewers. They talk about “Cosmic Sorrow” which means the loss of someone you have never met. Another concept talked about is “Public Loneliness” which means missing friends you have never met. Butch feels these two concepts after learning about what the Paragon can do and meeting the person that hit him. He faces a difficult choice when the film comes to its climactic conclusion.
Final Thoughts: The Paragon is an interesting take on the revenge genre and will surely become a cult classic. The notion of becoming a psychic to find the person who did you wrong is a hilarious one and one that will have you thinking about Cosmic Sorrow and Public Loneliness. Original ideas are hard to come by these days but Michael Duignan has given us a fun concept and a movie to match it.
Kid-Friendly: The theme about changing your past to better your future is one that kids have seen in other movies. In this one, they get to see the consequences of it. There are language and sexual situations that are not suitable for younger kids.
Violence: There are some fighting scenes in the movie but nothing too violent. Haxon using his powers on his father is interesting and unusual.
Do you want to see the unseen? Dutch (Benedict Wall) may look like just another defeated and washed-up loser, but behind his pissed-off exterior lurks a hyperdimensional being of exceptional promise. His wife left him, his career as a tennis coach is floundering, and he would give anything to find the driver of the silver Toyota Corolla who hit him and drove off a year ago–the event that initiated Dutch’s downward spiral. Enter Lyra (Florence Noble), a witchy disciplinarian who offers to help Dutch unleash his latent psychic powers and break free from the illusion of linear time. After a crash course in telelocation and astral projection, the unlikely psionic prodigy is ready for his quest of cosmic revenge, but Lyra has other plans: she needs Dutch’s help to find a mysterious crystal known as the Paragon before it falls into the hands of her evil brother Haxan (Jonny Brugh) and his mind slaves. Everything converges towards the singularity in Michael Duignan’s feature debut, a hilarious rift in space-time.