Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Horror movie about revenge has disturbing violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Paramedic
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
THE PARAMEDIC is Angel (Mario Casas), an EMT worker who arrives at accidents and other emergencies to help the injured or sick. We immediately learn that he lacks the compassion we might expect of someone in this line of work when we see him pocket personal items of disabled accident victims as well as the jewelry of a woman pronounced dead in her bedroom. While on duty, he smokes marijuana and buys drugs from a hospital coworker. He thinks his girlfriend Vane (Deborah Francois) is cheating on him with a classmate. They've been trying to get pregnant, but he's hiding from her the fact that he has an especially low sperm count. All of his antisocial tendencies grow worse when he becomes wheelchair-bound after an accident. He sets up surveillance on Vane's phone and follows her movements. When she finds out, she leaves immediately and becomes involved with a former colleague of Angel's. Using his access to drugs and his skills as a paramedic, Angel manages to kidnap and sedate the now pregnant Vane and keep her prisoner. To complete his revenge, he plots to get rid of the baby's father, deliver the baby, and raise it with his prisoner girlfriend. As the action grows grimmer, the hope of Vane's rescue dims.
Is It Any Good?
This is reminiscent of better movies such as Rear Window and Misery, but without sufficient character development, it just feels like an exploitation film, heavy on violence and narcissism. A great deal of the tension generated here is sustained by the fact that the director establishes early on that Angel (an ironic name) is without morals, a guy in the healing professions who routinely steals from the injured and dead. We know that no internal ethics will interfere with his revenge scheme. He won't hesitate to murder anyone who gets in his way. He won't feel remorse or mercy, or change his mind about the evil he is doing, so nothing he does, no matter how vile, surprises us.
Implausibility is high as people keep warning Angel they're going to call the police instead of just going ahead and calling them. Most implausible is that Angel, like a Mafia boss, has his own crime cleanup squad on call for getting rid of pesky bodies. All of this leaves little room for nuance and doesn't allow the mounting tension to ever let up, making The Paramedic simply unpleasant and difficult to watch rather than engrossing, as a thriller ought to be.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why it's important to stay away from abusive people. What troubling signs did Angel display in The Paramedic even before he was injured in an accident?
What other recent movies have used sedation and kidnapping as plot points? What do you make of a character who can only get his way by resorting to such methods?
What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do some people like to feel scared?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : September 16, 2020
- Cast : Mario Casas , Deborah Francois , Guillero Pfening
- Director : Carlos Torras
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Thriller
- Run time : 94 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : January 13, 2022
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate