Paranoia - Risky Game - Blu-ray

Content: For many months, Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth) and his team have been working on the new communications program, which their boss Nicolas Wyatt (Gary Oldman) rejects in mere seconds. When Adam protests the decision, the entire team is fired. For Adam, this is reason enough to celebrate his unemployment with his fellow sufferers at a club at his former employer's expense. When Wyatt finds out, he gives Adam a choice: either he goes to jail for embezzling company funds, or he lets himself in as a spy with Wyatt's nemesis Jock Goddard (Harrison Ford) to gather information about a top-secret new project. Needing money to care for his father (Richard Dreyfuss), Adam reluctantly agrees to the deal. But not only Goddard's visions, but also his co-worker Emma (Amber Heard), with whom he had a one-night stand on the fateful party night, make him doubt more and more that he made the right decision. When FBI agent Gamble (Josh Holloway) starts to take an interest in him, the risky game really begins...

Based on the novel Gold Boy by Joseph Finder, Robert Luketic has staged a solid thriller about industrial espionage, corruption and the lust for power. Paranoia - Risky Game doesn't offer any great dramaturgical innovations. Character sketches and dialogues often seem as if they came straight from the drawing board, where they were created strictly according to the rules of the genre manual. Also, Liam Hemsworth (The Panem Tribute) at times seems a bit overwhelmed with the lead role - especially in direct comparison to the Hollywood greats Luketic was able to recruit for this film. Still, the end result is nowhere near as bad as the box office failure and scathing reviews, especially in the U.S., would suggest.

Because even without any big surprises, the film is never really boring, pleases with stylish visuals, and also features some great supporting acting. Whether it's Richard Dreyfuss as Adam's thick-headed father, Gary Oldman as the ruthless boss or Harrison Ford as the shady visionary, they all manage to defy the rather poor script and deliver performances worth watching. And the other supporting actors, from Amber Heard to Lost star Josh Holloway, also leave a thoroughly positive impression.

A lot more could certainly have been made of the currently very topical subject of constant surveillance. Films like Enemy of the State No. 1 have succeeded in this, although here too many clichés have been attempted. Paranoia could have used a little more rough edges as well as a few real surprises. If Luketic had worked out the explosive nature of the subject matter and its threatening character better, the film would have certainly gained not only in suspense, but also in overall quality. As it is, the whole thing is unfortunately a bit lukewarm, but still entertaining. If you don't mind a certain predictability and are just looking for rock solid, well cast thriller entertainment, don't let the many bad reviews scare you off and definitely give it a look. Because as such, Paranoia - Riskantes Spiel is not a masterpiece, but still well worth watching!

Picture + Sound: Technically, the Blu-ray leaves a very good impression. The picture is absolutely clean, the image sharpness is also in the detail representation at a high level and also the tuning of contrasts and black levels can convince. The sound is in a very lively DTS-HD 5.1 MA mix, which is primarily determined by dialogue, but due to the music, ambient sounds and smaller sound effects has an overall very good dynamics!

Extras: The bonus material is somewhat promo-heavy, but for interested viewers well worth watching. In addition to a German-language making of (approx. 9:56 min.), there are some cut scenes (approx. 4:52 min.), as well as the three featurettes Paranoia Begins (approx. 5:56 min.), The Players (approx. 5:29 min.) and Privacy is dead (approx. 6:06 min.).

Conclusion: Paranoia - Risky Game is a routine thriller that makes up for its dramatic weaknesses with a great cast and well-crafted production. The film doesn't offer any big surprises and gets lost in worn out clichés again and again, furthermore Liam Hemsworth seems a bit overwhelmed with the leading role in some moments. Nevertheless, the whole is enough in the end for absolutely solid thriller entertainment, which presents itself on the Blu-ray in very good picture and sound quality. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp