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FROM PARIS WITH LOVE Send This Review to a Friend
If it’s action you are after, you’ll have your fill of it non-stop as the body count rises and there is very little love in “From Paris with Love,” a showpiece for head-shaven John Travolta as a kick-ass secret C.I.A. operative killing drug dealers and terrorists. The film, with a screenplay by Adi Hasak based on a story by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel, flashes tongue-in-cheek to go with its finger-on-the trigger plotting.
Don’t get any idea that only gunplay kills. Travolta as Charlie Wax is also a hands-on guy who can overpower any opponent with utter casualness in deployment of his physical skill as his added weapon. He’s also quick with the wise guy remark. When asked how many more Chinese there are after he’s slaughtered a slew of them on the lower floors of a building, he answers a billion.
Travolta’s co-star is Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who plays James Reese, an assistant to the U.S. Ambassador and a low-level dabbler in clandestine C.I.A. activities from his embassy vantage point. Reese would like to get more deeply involved in larger assignments. He gets his wish when he is sent to the airport to help spring Wax from being detained. The minute we meet Wax, we get the picture of an arrogant, lone wolf who acts as if he can take on the world, or at least a good part of Paris. Travolta is amusing, with plenty of audience appeal for those who enjoy this brand of violent romp.
Meanwhile, Reese is involved in a romantic relationship with a stunning looking woman named Caroline (Kasia Smutniak). He’s nuts about her, in fact, and she oozes affection for him, but he is also busy chasing around with Wax.
We soon suspect that all is not what it seems as the busy plot gets more and more complicated—too much so for credibility. But credibility is not what this film is selling. “From Paris with Love” trades in physical action, car chases through Paris, efforts to create suspense and overall mayhem. It is certainly skillfully done and leaves little room for boredom. I often found it lethally amusing. A Lionsgate release.
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