Frenzied Paris Difficult to Love
James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) seemingly has it all. As the primary aid to the American Ambassador to France (Richard Durden), he lives in an amazing Paris apartment overlooking the city with his sexy seamstress girlfriend Caroline (Kasia Smutniak) with whom he’s absolutely head over heels in love with. Everything is perfect, and while U.S. Intelligence sometimes has him pull an odd job or two (like bugging offices or secretly changing vehicle license plates) this is one guy who’s positive he’s on the fast track to greatness.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Travolta in Lionsgate Films' From Paris with Love
Enter high level counter espionage agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta). Reese is assigned to partner with this wild gunman on a top secret assignment, and before he knows it this high-level bureaucrat and low-level CIA stooge is dodging bullets and surviving explosions with no clue as to why. It’s going to be the craziest, most hair-raising 48-hours of the young man’s life, and if this mismatched pair doesn’t kill one another they just might save Paris from an act of terrorism the likes of which the city just isn’t prepared for.
Based on a story by the seemingly always working Luc Besson (who also penned District 13: Ultimatum, which opens today as well), Taken director Pierre Morel’s latest hyperactive action flick From Paris with Love is not without its merits. The first half is almost like a Road Runner cartoon, so fast-paced and crazily unhinged I couldn’t help but smile. The movie is full of energetic abandon, Travolta gleefully going over the top eating up all the bloody mayhem with a passionate exuberance that’s borderline psychotic.
But when the gleeful B-movie bullet-riddled pyrotechnics start to die down and the actual plot mechanics start to kick in Morel and Besson’s latest collaboration becomes less and less fun and far more of a slightly annoying bore as it gets closer to its insanely stupid climax. The movie defies both reason and credulity, and while this might have been okay had it stuck to its “Looney Tunes” meets John Woo roots the moment it shifts into relatively straightforward “24” territory things go rapidly downhill.
What I mean is that what had once been a gigantic bloody lark suddenly turns into anything but, Besson and screenwriter Adi Hasak (Shadow Conspiracy) trying to make some sort of statement about belief, intolerance, religious dogmatisms and of all things love that don’t exactly fit. Amidst the car chases and the gunfights Reese and Caroline rip out their hearts in hopes they won’t be broken, their last scene so obnoxious and unbelievable it would almost be silly if it hadn’t been so melodramatically unbearable.
There was a point there, though, where I thought From Paris with Love was going to be another low level action heavy B-grade winner like other Besson penned throwaways like The Transporter, the first District B13 or Kiss of the Dragon. It doesn’t try to make a lick of sense and revels in violence but it also has a devil may care gonzo sensibility that’s one heck of a lot of fun. Wax and Reese’s initial forays through the streets of Paris are downright psychotic, and if that doesn’t sound like a good thing let me ensure you of exactly the opposite.
Travolta is having a blast here. He might be just picking up a paycheck but that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t throw himself into his character body and soul. The actor is gigantic caricature of himself, riffing on past performances with a runaway ferocity that’s kind of nice to see. While not close to Travolta at his best the film showcases him in a way that’s mighty easy to enjoy, and if the filmmakers ever decided to bring back Wax for a second adventure I cannot say I wouldn’t be at least half interested in seeing it.
Too bad the movie lets him down so thoroughly in its second half. From Paris with Love stops riffing on its genre roots and instead starts believing it’s a real honest to goodness motion picture worth taking seriously. Worse, even with a character hanging out the side of a car window shooting off rockets á la Ronin the whole thing gets really rather boring, and by the time it was over any personal love I would have had for it was erased forever with all the subtlety of a bullet callously fired into my forehead.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
