Beyond Paradise (1998) Reviews

• This movie is so true

  smate8082006-08-04

  I saw this movie because some people I know are in it. This movie is so true to how Hawaii really is on the Big Island. With the exception there is no where to race at Pine trees. It shows how all the locals always want to fight and how the teenage girls are always knocked up, and the drug and alcohol problems that exists here in Hawaii. I shows the racism against whites (Haoles) but really doesn't show the racism to every single other race. The story is all but to true. Acting not so good, story good.. If you don't want to take my word for it watch the movie, come to Hawaii and check out how life is here. Don't go to Oahu to see how real Hawaii is because there is to much military and that just isn't how real Hawaii is. Go to Kauai, or the Big Island. Maui is starting to be more Haole now so outer island are best to see how true this movie is.

• This ain't the Hawaii in the travelogues

  brude20002000-03-21

  A relocated California teen (Roy Newton) faces rampant anti-white sentiment in this interesting `coming of age' drama set in the island paradise of Hawaii. The acting is fair and the drama often forced, as the well-meaning lad struggles to fit into a culture where local islanders view mainlanders as a threat and respond with aggression. This isn't the Hawaii my travel agent pitched. This uneven effort, written and directed by first-timer David L. Cunningham, is laudable in attempt and tone but suffers from the constrictions of budget and experience. By the final reel, all the characters have either failed or suffered and there are no clear resolutions, except those espoused – all too briefly -- by a native schoolteacher.

• Are you kidding me

  telstarindustries2010-12-10

  This movie is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I am shocked at how many positive reviews. Someone really had the nerve to compare this to "Once Were Warriors." Besides the lack of budget and the horrible acting, the story sucks too. WHAT IS THE STORY??????? There is no plot, there is nothing, there is no romance, no story, no character build. It is a stupid movie which appears to be trying to show how rough and cool native Hawaiians are, that being said I have to assume the writer, director and anyone else involved with the making of this movie had to have been teenagers. Low budget movies can be forgiven to an extent, but where this really misses the mark (besides everything else that makes a movie watchable) is the acting. The lead character Mark Thompson, where did they find this guy, I am really curious if this guy ever tells anyone he was in a movie and then shows this off. God it's embarrassing, "you your having a baby", "I'm sick of Hawaii and I'm sick of you", "I'm sick of you and your drugs. I laugh every time I see this guy, I'm a white dude and I would bully this guy too if I ever met anyone as weak and wormy as Mark Thompson in real life. The other characters suck too, the Hawaiian friends he makes all act they are 12 instead of their late teens. Just because someone from your little island in the middle of the pacific made a movie about your little island doesn't mean it's good, the movie sucks and you have to accept it.

• A simple case of.....

  D.C.-21999-09-02

  ...great actors taking a good script & making it better. The actors here are really good. Roy Newton is good as Mark. He stumbles a few times but manages to pull it off. Lorenzo Callender has the least lines of the four guys but the lines he does have hits home. Kalani is the likeable Zulu, Mr. Aloha himself. Daryl Bonilla is a natural as comical yet troubled Keao, an audience favorite. Troy Ignacio was very effective as menacing Aku and Priscilla Basque does good work as Lehua. I agree with everyone that the cinematography was fantastic. It's been awhile since the film stopped playing here but people still talk about it waiting for a re-release or a sequel. Good movie!!!

• It's his first non-documentary project... It shows...

  bobtheduck20032005-12-09

  I loved "To End All Wars", and I really wanted to see this, since it was David Cunningham's first movie. I finally got a chance to see it a couple weeks ago, and... Well, it shows that this is his first, because it is very rough... I'm sure a lot of the crew came from his Film production school and other students at the University of the Nations (even used it in the movie!)I'm just wondering if the actors are from his school, too... The acting isn't the best... Still, this is a very entertaining movie, and even got darker than I expected it to. The big event at the end was a bit surprising to me. The story was very good, and it was supposedly very loosely based on Cunningham's experiences growing up in Hawaii. I would be interested in finding out the extent of the movie that was true, which brings me to my last point. The movie was mostly good when you accept it for what it is, but the DVD is unforgivable... No documentary stuff, no subtitles, few chapter breaks, and no other special features... This may have been a first generation DVD, because a DVD made now should never be so bare that there isn't even a subtitle track! There was a lot they could have put on this DVD, considering it was considered a promotional thing for Hawaii...