Presumed Dead in Paradise (2014) Malese Jow, Olivia d'Abo, Gavin Houston, Alix Elizabeth Gitter, Luis Omar O'Farrill Movie Review

Presumed Dead in Paradise (2014)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Malese Jow in Presumed Dead in Paradise (2014)

Presume You Know

With her mum having died many years ago and then her father passing away, Madison Ashland (Malese Jow - Sisters of the Groom) only has her stepmother, Patricia (Olivia d'Abo - We Have Your Husband), who doesn't care for her and sent her to a boarding school. That is until out of the blue Patricia shows up and wants Madison to go on holiday with her to the island that her father always took her to. Hoping that they will bond Madison happily goes with Patricia and on the island meets Blake (Gavin Houston - The Secret She Kept), a tour guide who comes to her rescue when someone tries to steal her purse. But things take a turn for the worse when Madison falls off a paddle board whilst out with Blake and is reported drowned. Except she didn't drown and when she makes it back to the island discovers things are certainly not what she thought they were.

Maybe it is down to having watched more movies than your average movie fan but lately pretty much every movie I watch I quickly see through the thinly concealed opening to spot where the storyline is going, which in turn makes them predictable. This happened with "Presumed Dead in Paradise" as within minutes of this made for TV movie starting I could already connect the dots as to what is really going on and where it was leading. As such I am going to say spoiler alert right now as unless I reveal certain things I won't have anything to write about.

So the first reveal is that out of the blue Patricia shows up and wants to bond with the stepdaughter who she put in the boarding school when her father died. Maybe for those who are inexperienced they will think how sweetbut with the looks of a scheming femme fatale something smells off and it is not her perfume. Add to that Madison bumps into a girl on the plane to the island who looks a little like her, suspicious coincidence or what, and then just as Madison gets attacked on the island nice guy Blake shows up to rescue her, another coincidence or what. If you can't peace together that this is a set up with Patricia wanting to dispose of Madison and then use a fake daughter to get her hands on a fortune then you are luckier than I was.

What this means though when Madison doesn't die and discovers what her wicked stepmother is up to she has a battle on her hands not only to convince others of who she is and what is happening but also to survive as she still needs getting rid of. Basically "Presumed Dead in Paradise" is that straight forwards and whilst I don't usually give spoilers away this movie is so obvious that you would have had to never have watched another movie before not to spot where this one is heading.

But whilst "Presumed Dead in Paradise" is predictable from start to finish it is entertaining enough with a cast who are pleasant on the eye, some nice locations as well as being nicely paced. Basically even if you can see where it is leading within minutes of it starting it isn't completely unwatchable. Although, having said that some of it is ridiculously far fetched, especially when it comes to Patricia and her colleagues tracking, the on the run, Madison.

What this all boils down to is that "Presumed Dead in Paradise" is just another made for TV thriller, the sort which does little to disguise its intentions and so is simple to predict where it is going.


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