In a world of sequels and endless intellectual property series, it’s always a delight to encounter something entirely … not that. And the trailer for Michael Duignan’s The Paragon is extremely not that. This trailer is all psychic powers, dreams of revenge, and weird-ass ’80s vibes. The Film Verdict called the movie, “A joyous Kiwi midnight-movie oddity that channels ’80s fantasy and DIY gumption in a cosmic quest for a hyper-dimensional crystal,” which ought to be enough to pique anyone’s interest. But here’s the full synopsis:
Do you want to see the unseen? Dutch (Benedict Wall) may look like just another defeated and washed-up loser, but behind his pissed-off exterior lurks a hyperdimensional being of exceptional promise. His wife left him, his career as a tennis coach is floundering, and he would give anything to find the driver of the silver Toyota Corolla who hit him and drove off a year ago–the event that initiated Dutch’s downward spiral. Enter Lyra (Florence Noble), a witchy disciplinarian who offers to help Dutch unleash his latent psychic powers and break free from the illusion of linear time. After a crash course in telelocation and astral projection, the unlikely psionic prodigy is ready for his quest of cosmic revenge, but Lyra has other plans: she needs Dutch’s help to find a mysterious crystal known as the Paragon before it falls into the hands of her evil brother Haxan (Jonny Brugh) and his mind slaves. Everything converges towards the singularity in Michael Duignan’s feature debut, a hilarious rift in space-time.
Star Benedict Wall was on 34 episodes of the long-running Aussie soap opera Home and Away; he is clearly taking his career in a very different direction these days. This is director Duignan’s first feature, but he’s spent plenty of time directing episodes of television ranging from Filthy Rich to Power Rangers Ninja Steel.
If you live in one of a handful of cities, you can experience The Paragon in theaters; the rest of us will have to settle for watching it on smaller screens. It’s in select theaters and on digital September 8th.
