From Paris With Love: Movie Review

From Paris With Love: Movie Review

From Paris With Love
Rating: 6/10
Cast: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Director: Pierre Morel
From a story by Luc Besson and from the director who made Liam Neeson an action man in Taken comes From Paris With Love.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as James Reece, a young employee of the US ambassador in France. With his 1920s style spiv like moustache and slightly uptight attitude, Reece is a model employee, deeply in love with his girlfriend Caroline and when his country calls him a bit of a rookie spy.
Except he's a bottom of the ladder kind of spy - the sort who will change number plates. And he yearns to play a bigger role in the espionage world.
He's given that chance - enter John Travolta's dome headed slightly unhinged Charlie Wax who's an operative with the CIA and in France to try and stop a terrorist attack.
But given these two are polar ends of the spectrum when it comes to attitudes and Reece finds himself in a world he never imagined he'd be part of.
What do you say about From Paris With Love? With its tagline, Two agents, One City, no Merci, explosions, gunfights and beatings set to heavy metal, let's be clear this isn't rocket science - or a film you particularly need to concentrate on the plot of (although you do have to keep up).
But against the odds it emerges as a fairly disposable piece of Friday night cinematic action - with Travolta pumped up on energy, cheesy lines (Wax on, wax off) and Rhys Meyers' nicely opposite uptight approach, you end up feeling like you're watching the start of a franchise set of films.
There's plenty of car chases, plenty of explosions and plenty of people being violently shot and hurled across the room but it's thanks to the sparkle and crackle chemistry between the two leads, that it's relatively enjoyable fun. Director Morel brings the same level of energy to the action scenes as he demonstrated in Taken, lending the whole piece with a slick choreographed feel.
To be honest, it's a decent partnership the pair create - and I'm sure a sequel to From Paris With Love (From LA with Love perhaps) won't be too far away.

Oh and it's worth it for just one moment - to see John Travolta finally get that burger he talked about in Pulp Fiction all those years ago....