Main Cast: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad, Vera Farmiga
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This remake of Force Majeure (aka Uncontrollable Circumstances), a 1989 film with Alan Bates and Kristin Scott Thomas, recalls the prison plight depicted in Midnight Express (1978). Rambling around Asia, getting high and just having a good time, are three young men -- Sheriff (Vince Vaughn), Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix), and Tony (David Conrad). Sheriff and Tony say goodbye to Lewis, a conscientious Greenpeace activist and nature-lover who stays on to rescue endangered Borneo orangutans. Two years later, Tony is an architect about to marry, and Sheriff has a job driving a limo around New York City. When Beth (Anne Heche) steps into Sheriff's limo, she tells him that she's a lawyer working to save Lewis. He learns that Lewis was arrested by Malaysian authorities, tried as a drug dealer, convicted, and sentenced to death. Sheriff's actions of trashing a borrowed bicycle and casually disposing of 100 grams of hash make him responsible for Lewis's predicament, but does he feel guilty enough to get involved? The execution is only eight days away, but it will not happen if Tony and/or Sheriff return to also serve time -- three years each if both come back, but six years if only one returns. Investigating this story is reporter M.J. Major (Jada Pinkett Smith), who views the situation as an important international news story. Tony readily agrees to go back and save Lewis -- but only if Sheriff also returns with him. Sheriff initially declines, prompting the desperate Beth to find ways to convince him to go. Complicating matters, Sheriff and Beth begin to find they are attracted to each other. Eventually, all fly to Malaysia during the final 24 hours before the execution. Director Joseph Ruben filmed in Hong Kong, Macao, and Thailand, with Malaysian prison interiors shot in Philadelphia. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Although it's hardly up to the level of the superlative Midnight Express, Return to Paradise offers a well-oiled Hollywood take on the venerable foreign-prisons-are-hell genre (see also: Papillon, Brokedown Palace). The script, by Batman Returns scribe Wesley Strick and Jennifer 8 writer/director Bruce Robinson, pushes all the correct, crowd-pleasing emotional buttons. Chief victim Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lovable Greenpeace activist. Reluctant savior Sheriff (Vince Vaughn) must abandon a tentative romance with lawyer Beth (Anne Heche) if he wants to save his former buddy's life. And reporter M.J. (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a plucky professional whose newshound instincts nevertheless have unexpected and negative repercussions. That all of these well-worn emotional arcs resolve into anything but a treacly mess is the result of fine performances from all involved. Credit also goes to director Joseph Ruben -- previously known for the uninspired work-for-hire of Sleeping With the Enemy -- whose low-key realism and moments of melancholy add distinction to the proceedings. Return to Paradise is never less than watchable. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Dennis Bradford - Art Director, Kathleen Chopin - Casting, Jason Kliot - Co-producer, Juliet A. Polcsa - Costume Designer, Michael Steele - First Assistant Director, Joseph Ruben - Director, Jack Gill - Second Unit Director, Craig McKay - Editor, Andrew Mondshein - Editor, Ezra Swerdlow - Executive Producer, David Arnold - Executive Producer, Lyn Pinezich - Location Manager, Mark Mancina - Composer (Music Score), Kathryn Bihr - Makeup, Elaine Offers - Makeup, Bruce MacCallum - Camera Operator, David Knox - Camera Operator, Bill Groom - Production Designer, Reynaldo Villalobos - Cinematographer, Steve Golin - Producer, Alain Bernheim - Producer, Betsy Klompus - Set Designer, William Sarokin - Sound/Sound Designer, Kevin Lee - Sound Editor, Keith Campbell - Stunts, Jimmy N. Roberts - Stunts, Bruce Robinson - Screenwriter, Wesley Strick - Screenwriter, Craig Barron - Visual Effects Supervisor, Richard Q. King - Sound Effects Editor, Phil Cohen - First Assistant Camera, Michael Cambria - First Assistant Camera, Edwin Effrein - First Assistant Camera, Adam Putnam-Thomas - First Assistant Camera, Jamie Weidenhorn - First Assistant Camera, Jonathan Lumley - Gaffer, William M. Weberg - Grip, James W. Finnerty - Key Grip, Julie A. Bloom - Second Assistant Director, Barry Wetcher - Still Photographer, Jeffrey Angel - Assistant Location Manager, Derrick Lorris - Assistant Location Manager, Lucille Masone Smith - Assistant Production Coordinator, Tom Kerwick - Best Boy Grip, Scott Maguire - Camera Loader, Dave Lowry - Dolly Grip, Chris Hammond - Electrician, Mark Proscia - Electrician, Jennifer A. Davidoff Cook - First Assistant Editor, John Scott Cook - First Assistant Editor, Paul Wagtouicz - Post Production Assistant, Barry Malawski - Assistant ADR Editor
Return to Paradise is a remake of a French film released in 1989, Force majeure. Return to Paradise was released a year before Brokedown Palace and is noted for being similar, in that it also concerns a young American trapped in a Southeast Asian legal system, and difficult choices that must be made by that foreigner's traveling companions.
Plot
"Return to Paradise" begins with a silent montage of a fun holiday in a Malaysian paradise showing the three main male characters in the movie having a spectacular time. The opening scenes of the movie remain in Malaysia with a series of pulsating events providing the men with myriad hardships, including one such scene when the young men are almost run over by a car when riding a bicycle and another when they are pressured into buying some tonic drink from Malaysian locals. Eventually, the three men, Lewis McBride (Joaquin Phoenix), Sheriff (Vince Vaughn) and Tony (David Conrad) wind up at their beach front house on the ocean pondering their future in the island paradise. After some time, Tony and Sheriff decide to return to New York, while Lewis, being a "greeny", wishes to travel to Borneo to save endangered orangutans. As an ironic joke before leaving, Sheriff asks Lewis, "Why did we get so much hash anyway,?" which eventually proves to be Lewis' death sentence. The movie then returns to New York, with Sheriff working as a limo driver and Tony as an architect. Eventually, a woman, claiming to be a lawyer, shows up on each of their proverbial door-steps dealing them with a harsh proposition. She informs them that their friend Lewis has served the last 2 years in the Penang prison in Malaysia, because of a great deal of hash found at his (and the other 2 men's former houses). Frighteningly, the lady (Beth, played by Anne Heche), reveals that he will receive the death sentence unless one or both of the men return to share responsibility. Beth assures both of the men that they will not suffer in the prison, be tortured or harmed in any way. After a grueling eight days to make a decision, and a heated love affair between Beth and Sheriff, both men decide to return to Malaysia. Upon their arrival, all seems well until they visit the prison to see Lewis.
Lewis seems to have turned crazy from the constant imprisonment, although it is reported that he has not been tortured or starved as is the case with other prisoners. Upon their drive back to the US embassy, Beth reveals that she is Lewis' sister. Her lie makes Tony fearful of the Malaysian justice system and he abandons Lewis and flies back to the US. Sheriff follows Tony, but decides to face jail to save his friend and returns to the courtroom in which Lewis is being tried. The judge seems heartened by this act of courage and bravery, until he discovers a news clipping from an American Newspaper blaming the Malaysian justice system and condemning them for their harsh sentencing of Lewis. Because of this, he becomes infuriated and gives Lewis death, despite the presence of Sheriff coming back to accept his share of the responsibility. He also gives Sheriff an unknown period of jail-time. The movie then cuts to the prison where Lewis is shown screaming and crying, whilst being brought to his imminent execution. While being carried across the courtyard to the gallows, Sheriff comes to his window and calls out to Lewis in an attempt to calm him down. When the noose is being tied around Lewis' neck, Sheriff keeps calling out that "he is there" and "I'm with you", as well as "look at me". Lewis stops crying and looks up at Sheriff, upon which he is dropped from the platform and killed. After this, Beth and Sheriff have a meeting, where he assures Beth that Lewis left with pride and dignity to save his reputation. Upon this Beth becomes emotional and kisses Sheriff as a sign of their love and leaves saying "I'll wait for you until you're released", upon when Sheriff replies, "I know you will!"
