From Paris With Love
From Paris With Love shows they don’t make em like they use to. It’s a bang ’em up, shoot ’em up, plotless excursion that delivers on sheer entertainment and energy. From the title right down to Travolta’s one hoop earring, the whole thing is very ’80s. That’s a good thing!
The new testosterone fest has been engineered by genre veteran Luc Besson (The 5th element, The Professional) and helmed by director Pierre Morel, who delivered big time on last year’s thriller Taken. Both of these men know their target audience and, more importantly, how to please a crowd.
The plot, however, feels thin while unfolding, and then even thinner once you’ve left the theater. Agent James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) of the English Embassy is asked to join in on a special assignment that will grant him the promotion he’s been anxiously waiting for. Without much information to go on, he kisses his faithful girlfriend goodbye and travels to meet Charlie Wax (John Travolta), who is already getting into trouble because French customs won’t allow him to bring his energy drinks into the country.
This indicates the start of a wild ride. Charlie is an unconventional hard ass to the extreme, and James, of course, his methodical, wimpy sidekick. While Wax is shooting everything in his line of vision, James realizes that the secret job is in fact a mission to uncover a terrorist plot about to be launched in the next few days. Things get more interesting when it’s revealed James plays a bigger part in the plan than he thought, and thus the two must figure it all out before the attack occurs.
From Paris With Love is pure, dumb fun. It offers very little in terms of intelligence, but who cares? Sometimes we just want to laugh and see shit get blown up. The action is relentless and nonstop, sometimes cartoonish and sometimes positively thrilling, as seen in a climactic car chase. Both Rhys Meyers and Travolta are fine, with honors going to Travolta. His prejudiced, sexist pig is a relic of the ’80s, and the film’s lack of PC is ultimately it’s central appeal. Travolta says "fuck" a lot, too, which is always great, and there’s a nice Pulp Fiction reference late in the game. Myers offers more of an actual performance, and an attempt at depth, which is something that can’t be said for anyone else in the cast.
Don’t go into From Paris With Love with any expectations other than to be decently entertained for a hour and a half. Those who switch the brain off will definitely be rewarded, though. The action is swift, the performances fun, and the hyperkenetic pace never lets up until the last frame. And where else can you watch Jonathan Rhys Meyers dodge gunfire while running around aimlessly with a huge, cocaine-filled vase?
