From Paris with Love
Screen Rant ’s Paul Young reviewsFrom Paris with Love
After last year ’s break out hitTaken , I was hoping director Pierre Morel would come out swing once more with his next filmFrom Paris with Love . After all , it ’s based off a story that Luc Besson wrote and it stars heartthrob Jonathan Rhys Meyers ( who was fantastic inThe Tudors ) and Hollywood military action film staple John Travolta . Unfortunately , this picture show is full of more standard action movie clichés than I could count . I did n’t hate the film but I did find myself yawning and actually got up to use the facilities and was n’t in a real hurry to get back . Oddly enough , I did n’t miss anything link to the tale .
As for the plot of ground , it goes something like this : James Reese ( Meyers ) is an secret factor working for some telephone extension of the US government ( which is never identify ) as a personal aide to the American Ambassador in France . He aspires to be something more than an errand male child , swapping out license plates and planting hearing devices and soon generate his chance from “ The Voice ” on the phone .
His first major assignment is to pick up his new spouse , Charlie Wax ( Travolta ) , at French Customs and assist him in his grant . From there the account go off the rail and never really gets back on . The pair then go after a Chinese cocaine band , which somehow leads them to an Indian money laundering kit which in turns takes them to some Pakistani terrorists . A quick twist here , a span more clichés there and the movie is over . Oh yeah , and there is a fate of cussing , shooting , things blowing up and a lackluster car chase thrown in for good criterion .
The one thing I could n’t quite understand is why was this set in France ? The only Gallic mass in the movie are the custom agent and some policeman who get blown up just as soon as they show up on the scene . The good hombre are American covert agent , the drug lords are Chinese , the pimp and terrorists are Pakistani and the summit the Ambassador is attending is for Africa . The only watershed register in the film is the Eiffel Tower and that is literally for one scene and play no part in the narration other than something very underage . There are no pantomimer , no open markets or no fine art - filled courtyards . Heck , most of the extra do n’t even talk French . This whole story could have easy been limit in Thailand , Russia , England or Los Angeles and it would n’t have change the plot one bit .
As for the performances , I was really digging Travolta as the out of control condition , “ my room or the highway ” slack cannon on a rampage extra agent but it pop out to get old after about 30 moment . Travolta is obviously having a practiced fourth dimension playing the character and it shows . Ultimately , he is one - dimensional and I found myself getting bored by it . Meyers is no better at portray his case as a sheeplike junior federal agent who is in over his head and clueless to things move on around him . He also feels his erotic love for his new fiancé is strong than his duty . Both type were n’t given much thought and Reese follows Wax around for most of the first act carrying around a big Taiwanese vase full of cocaine .
Any one or two of these things in the movie would n’t unremarkably be enough to make a film ho - Harkat-ul-Mujahidin but the fact that there are six of seven things going wrong , prepare it a big letdown . If your girl , for some unexplained reason , does n’t want to seeDear Johnthis weekend , then I suppose you could watchFrom Paris with Loveinstead but really your time might be better spent sharing a milkshake at Johnny Rockets .
Also , for all youPulp Fictionlovers out there , see if you could spot the nudge - nudge , wink - winking to that film .
From Paris with Loveisn’t a pure waste of fourth dimension but it ’s pretty darn close ; I ’ll just have to waitress forTaken 2for Morel to deliver himself .
From Paris With Love is a 2010 action film starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The pair play Charlie Wax and James Reese, a US Ambassador employee and an American spy who work together to prevent a terrorist attack in Paris. The film was directed by Pierre Morel and written by Adi Hasak and Luc Besson.
From Paris With Love is a 2010 action film starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers . The pair play Charlie Wax and James Reese , a US Ambassador employee and an American spy who work together to forestall a terrorist attack in Paris . The film was aim by Pierre Morel and written by Adi Hasak and Luc Besson .
