Sadly Over-hyped

Instant Favorite.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Escobar: Paradise Lost" is a great movie about Colombia's most ruthless, wealthiest, most powerful and certainly one of the most violent criminals of all time. It is not another Escobar biopic, instead the film provides a new perspective on him since lets you "visit" Escobar's family and estate. It recreates Hacienda Napoles quite well. Benicio Del Toro is Pablo Escobar. This is probably the best performance ever about Escobar's real character. Actor Josh Hutcherson gives a great performance as Nick, and actress Claudia Traisac who plays Maria gives a great performance. Carlos Bardem plays Drago, with a short but impressive intervention on the plot. I highly recommend you this movie.

I found this film quite disappointing. Pablo Escobar's life provides the opportunity to tell a diverse number and types of stories. Yet this film uses him as they could have used a fictional character. One created by the Author. I have read and watched countless books, newspapers, documentaries, TV series and films made about Pablo Escobar. The character in this movie doesn't approach the surface of who he was. I question why even use the Escobar character and not just create a Drug Lord somewhere in Latin America? The portrait of the Escobar depicted in this film is very different from reality. Who he was, what drove him, what infuriated him, what he was afraid of. The only thing they got right is that he did care very much for his family. This film could have been so much more.

This thriller is a clever blend of a real person Escobar the drug lord and a dramatized semi fictional romance between a naïve Canadian who falls in love with the drug lord's niece in Colombia. You feel you are watching a true story because of the real drug lord.The action is terrifying and builds up realistically to a climax that has Breaking Bad intensity.Benicio is totally convincing in this role that is perfect for him. He doesn't over do it which is more effective. Josh Hutcherson is actually very good. It's nice to see him away from Hunger Games as a fresh faced innocent.A powerful yet believable fable.

Paradise lost can be described as a romance, thriller as it depicts a cultivating love story between an innocent, seemingly dumb Canadian boy and a compassionate Columbian girl, while portraying a very well played Pablo Escobar, who is intense, powerful and does anything to protect his family. Watching paradise lost, it seems as though two separate movies were compiled together into one. The first half unravels the love between Nick and Maria, which drags on and never really escalates or blossoms into something meaningful as the movie ends on a whim, leaving the audience to believe that there may be a sequel. The second half of the movie is adventurous and captivating, showing a dangerous hide and seek game between Nick and Pablo Escobar's guards, as they try to hunt Nick, after he successfully figured out their plot to kill him. If the director decided to dedicate the entire movie to either of these story lines, the movie would have been much more enjoyable. Even though, the movie is created around the story of Nick and Maria, Benicio Del Toro's impressively played Pablo Escobar steals the spotlight from the lead role of the movie and his supporting act unknowingly becomes the center of attention, as the menacing and dark Pablo Escobar is hard to overlook. Andrea DI Stefano, the director of the film is able to bring alive the Columbian culture with vibrant, colorful costumes while expertly depicting Pablo Escobar's famed Hacienda Naples, that is filled with expensive art and exotic animals. Overall, Escobar: Paradise lost is an intertwining movie presenting a blossoming love between two culturally divided young individuals, and a wealthy and commanding uncle who will stop at nothing to ensure that his family is not betrayed by any outside influences.