This is a thriller wrapped around Colombia's infamous drug baron Pablo Escobar. If you remember the fact that it's all fiction and suspend your logic for two hours it's an OK movie for its genre. As most of other reviewers put it Benicio Del Toro does a phenomenal job in his portrayal of El Patron although I don't know if it was a true characterization with all details of his personal traits. This is because at times, Del Toro seemed to give too much depth to a ruthless killer. However, the real problem is with Josh Hutcherson who looks like a miscast for his role especially in the second part of the movie involving suspense and action. Indeed, Josh's worried, sad puppy face reflects the true emotional state of a normal person who is involved with the drug kingpin whose track record is decorated with the murder of thousands. The same character, however, looks too wimpy to pull all the action, hence the ambiguity in the cast. With his indecisive, unconfident and overwrought appearance, Josh is not believable at all to play a person who'd get into a cat and mouse game with professional murderers which ends up with a gunfight. Indeed, despite the suspense, most of the subplots involving action scenes were glossed over and far from credibility. For example, it is not clear why the national security forces were so quick to collaborate with his henchman to search for Josh when they had been so busy with tracking down El Patron prior to his decision to give himself in. But for a person who wouldn't nitpick about such fine details, the movie is entertaining enough.
Review of Escobar: Paradise Lost
