Paradox 2016

Lee Chung-chi, a Hong Kong police inspector, flies to Pattaya after his 16-year-old daughter, Lee Wing-chi, disappears during a trip abroad. The search quickly pulls him into a dangerous web that interweaves crime, politics, and personal grief. In Thailand, he teams up with local Chinese detective Chui Kit and his Thai colleague Tak, and they cross paths with the American gangster Sacha. The investigation hints at a link between Wing-chi’s disappearance and the ambitions of Pattaya’s mayoral candidate, who requires a heart transplant, a detail that pulls the case into the heart of a high-stakes medical and political plot. Lee grows convinced that the mayoral candidate’s assistant, Cheng Hon-sau, is colluding with Sacha to abduct his daughter, turning a private tragedy into a national crisis.

To force progress, Lee makes a desperate move: he abducts a corrupt officer, Ban, hoping to unearth information and press the case forward. This reckless action drags him into the limelight as a wanted man, turning him into a nationwide target while he continues to chase the truth about his daughter’s whereabouts. The stakes escalate as Chui and Tak follow leads, and the two detectives find a taxi-driver’s apartment whose dashcam video may hold the key to Wing-chi’s fate. But Sacha and his gang reach the driver first, igniting a brutal confrontation. In the ensuing struggle, Chui fights Sacha’s men while Tak corners Sacha. The rooftop confrontation ends in tragedy: Tak dominates the fight and appears to have won, but Sacha feigns defeat, then launches a shocking attack that sends a bystander child plunging from the building. Tak saves the child but is betrayed and knocked off the roof himself, plunging to his death. The loss of Tak hardens the case and fuels the need for answers.

Back at the center of the conspiracy, Ban provides a crucial location for Wing-chi’s whereabouts, pushing the investigation toward a deadly intersection of crime and state power. On the way to that location, disaster strikes again when Lee’s car collides with Cheng’s vehicle, which is carrying Wing-chi. The police quickly close in on Lee, and he narrowly escapes as his daughter is taken to Sacha’s headquarters by Cheng. Ban is killed in the hospital after his interrogation reveals the grim truth. The situation grows even more perilous when Police Commissioner Chai—aware of a broader plot to shield the mayoral candidate—tells Chui to drop the case, signaling that a cover-up is already underway and that everyone’s lives are at risk.

The clock keeps ticking toward a grim crescendo. After the heart transplant operation for Wing-chi is completed, Cheng orders Chai to crush Sacha and his henchmen. Lee rushes into Sacha’s lair, engaging in a brutal showdown with overwhelmed odds. Chai’s orders push the operation forward, aiming to kill Lee as well, but Chui intervenes, saving Lee and continuing the fight against Sacha and his men. Chui’s relentless assault reduces Sacha’s forces, and the police SWAT team finally storms the headquarters, forcing Sacha into a tighter, more desperate defense. With the attackers dispersed, Lee, Chui, and Sacha find themselves in a final, brutal clash that demands every ounce of grit from both sides.

In a devastating turn, Chui reveals a horrifying truth to Lee. The revelation forces Lee to confront the possibility that the worst may be yet to come: the fight isn’t just about Wing-chi’s fate but about a larger conspiracy that could destroy them all. Lee discovers his daughter’s corpse, a moment that shatters him and reframes everything he’s done. As Chui fights to stop Sacha, Lee unleashes a ferocious onslaught, ultimately overpowering Sacha with a decisive, lethal strike. Chai arrives, ready to execute Lee, but Chui urges restraint, reminding the authorities that they are still law enforcers, not vigilantes. In a staggering twist, Chai becomes aware that Chui’s wife has been kidnapped by Cheng, deepening the moral maze.

Lee offers to rescue Chui’s wife, prompting a perilous plan. He is dropped off at the mayoral candidate’s residence during a birthday celebration, where he secretly listens to Wing-chi’s heart inside the sleeping room. Cheng appears and confronts him, revealing that his crimes were not about protecting the mayoral candidate but about personal power and control. Lee asks whether Chui and his wife will be left alive, and Cheng seems to concede that Lee’s own fate might be sealed. In a final, brutal confrontation, Lee kills Cheng and spares the mayoral candidate, a choice that weighs heavily on him as he drifts toward collapse. Overwhelmed by loss—his wife and daughter gone—Lee turns the gun on himself just as Chui and the others respond to the sounds outside. The moment marks a grim closure to Lee’s relentless pursuit of truth.

In the aftermath, Chui’s wife is released and later gives birth, a fragile note of new life in the wake of so much grief. Chui’s initial elation at the arrival of a newborn life gradually gives way to the heavy memory of Lee’s sacrifice and the price paid in pursuit of justice. The film ends with Chui carrying the weight of those choices, forever aware that Lee’s courage came at a devastating personal cost, and that the line between duty and tragedy can blur in the darkest hours.