From Paris with Love

From Paris with Love

Action

2010

Rated: R
Running Time: 92 minutes
Starring: John Travolta, Jonathon Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak

Directed By: Pierre Morel

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Outline

Two unlikely partners have to stop a terrorist plot in Paris.

Review

I was happy to see that John Travolta shaved off or washed off whatever was on top of his head for this film. With his disturbing hair out of the way it meant there were no distractions for this film to be enjoyed. We just needed it to be a decent movie and we were all set. The KEY being it needed to be a decent movie but this film was less than stellar. From Paris with Love is the story of an employee of the U.S. ambassador’s office joining forces with an unorthodox American super agent. Their job is to stop a terrorist plot within the city of Paris

To start off, these types of movies clearly have a lot of fans out there. If they didn’t people like Wesley Snipes, JCVD, and many other B action stars wouldn’t have had/have such long careers. They are just not my flavor with their mindless action sequences and weak characters. The film starts off and we are introduced to the straight laced ambassador assistant named James. He goes about his job in a proficient and highly professional manner. He is a stickler for formality and protocol. A short time later we are introduced to his unlikely partner known as Charlie Wax. Charlie is a top U.S. spy whose unorthodox techniques and brash attitude make him an unlikely candidate for an elite agent. Because of their polar opposite personalities and the nature of their jobs this film plays out like a buddy cop movie but without any comedy. Their job is to stop a terrorist plot so they have to investigate bad guys all over the city. The positive to this film is the high body count and lots of shoot outs with various bad guys. Action lovers will not be disappointed as there are few lulls in this fast paced film. The bad is this film is an over edited mess; it is hard to enjoy the car chases, gun play, and hand to hand combat with the split second cuts. It is super frustrating to watch. It also is one of those films where the good guys hit with every shot fired and the bad guys couldn’t hid the broad side of a barn with their return fire.    

James is played by Jonathon Rhys Meyers. He is okay as the lead trying to impress his bosses through hard work and his brains. His performance is rigid though as the voice of reason and he seems a stretch as a secret agent. His partner Charlie Wax is played by John Travolta. I hated this character at the start but he grows on you. By the end I liked his performance even though he would have been killed a long time ago with his stupid decisions. He fires first and asks questions later. I felt Travolta captures the craziness of the character and while super unbelievable as a government spy, he is largely entertaining as high octane killing machine. The two actors have little chemistry on screen and Meyers is basically forgotten for long stretches as Travolta steals scene after scene from him.

As the film continues it gets harder and harder to deal with these guys as a team. James is forced to carry an ornate vase for a huge period of time. When it finally comes into play as to why he is doing it you won’t care anymore. Charlie Wax also gets crazier and crazier as the movie progresses. Things like cocaine use, public shootings, and whipping out bazookas is a little too much for my taste. The story is bland and will surprise no one with its outcome. I promise this film will give you lots of dead gangsters and many explosions but gets bogged down with too many unrealistic scenarios.

Director Pierre Morel didn’t make this film for the masses he made it for the mindless action lovers out there. With the movies District 13 and Taken on his resume it is shocking to me that this film failed for the most part. He has always been guilty of over editing but this film was worse than most. The story itself is weak and the ending predictable. If he reigned in some of the unnecessary explosions and added a steadier camera this film could have worked. Certainly this movie is high impact but not high reward. I give him a pass for his target audience but fail overall.

I cannot recommend this film as Paris seems a nice place to visit but not fun to see a shootout in.

T Factor + If you like mindless action films than this could score higher on the rating scale.

T Factor – If you need solid characters in your films then this could score lower on the rating scale.

If you liked this film reel recommendations: Taken, Bourne Identity