Fantasia 2026 Review: ATTACK ON PARADISE, A Belgian Single Setting Siege Story With Heart

In a dystopic corner of urban Antwerp stands Paradise, a ten-story apartment block that houses some of the baddest dudes and dudettes in all of Belgium. Packed to the gills with drug hustlers, arms dealers, illicit brothels, and every other brand of seedy, dangerous commerce you can imagine, Paradise is a thorn in the side of the authorities and the time has come to bring it all down. Unfortunately for Suleyman (Saïd Boumazoughe), it is also home to an ailing mother he hasn’t seen in seven years after he was arrested for killing a cop in a contentious confrontation while bringing home her diabetes medication late one night.

The day that Suleyman returns to Paradise is also unfortunately the day that Belgian special forces have decided to raid (pun intended) the building, but big boss man, Prince Hamza (Achmed Akkabi) is going to be ready for them. This three-way battle between the cops, the crooks, and the repentant son trying to save his mother is going to get really bloody before the day is through. Director Bob Colaers’ Attack on Paradise is an action-packed siege thriller that spares no body part nor bullet in delivering one of the most exciting Belgian exports since Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Co-written and with a story by credit from star Boumazoughe, Attack on Paradise borrows liberally from the structure of The Raid and Dredd, the famous duo that turned the kill-everyone-in-the-building-one-floor-at-a-time into a pretty standard thing. Where Paradise diverges from those is the story’s strong emotional core, Suleyman starts off by fighting simply to save his mother by any means necessary, but as the film progresses, he finds a deep connection with rookie cop Yasmine (Clara Cleymans), who was a part of the police force designated to capture Hamza who finds herself alone after the whole operation goes pear-shaped.

Whereas its predecessors used a straight-forward one-floor-at-a-time progression, Attack on Paradise action weaves throughout the building, moving from floor to floor, both up and down, as the film’s increasingly tense action reveals new twists every couple of minutes. Much like the above-mentioned classics, Paradise sprinkles a handful of mini-bosses throughout the building, providing longer, more intricate action set pieces that your average hallway slaughter.

Attack on Paradise’s use of found objects and clever production design to create interesting fight and kill sequences can at time be overwhelming, and there are moments where the action feels like a hat on a hat, but for the most part the diversity of fights keeps action flowing in a way that doesn’t get stale. There are a few moments where the editing betrays the inertia of a fight sequence – sometimes you need faster cuts to emphasize the urgency of an action sequence and Attack on Paradise sometimes lingers a bit too long on moves that are a bit too clearly rehearsed – but overall, it’s a very exciting watch.

What sets Attack on Paradise apart from those other films is the connections between characters, while the action is certainly foregrounded appropriately, with a less solid core story, it would feel more akin to a retread than a standalone success. Boumazoughe is able to deliver something on an acting level than neither Iko Uwais nor Karl Urban were asked to do in Raid or Dredd, and that is to create an empathetic character who is struggling with his own morality while knowing that his ultimate goal, to save his mother, is right and noble. The goal is clear, it’s the path that is less definite, and that dissonance is where the film outshines the others. It’s a balancing act between the action and the heart that the film mostly manages to conquer.