Review: From Paris with Love

From Paris with Love

OPENING: 02/05/2010

STUDIO: Lionsgate

RUN TIME: 92 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Two agents. One city. No merci.

Opening Statement
Following up the surprise box office success of the Liam Neeson vehicle Taken, director Pierre Morel and producer Luc Besson return with the John Travolta actioner From Paris with Love. Alas, it ranks as one of the lesser achievements of almost everyone involved.

Facts of the Case
James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Match Point) is an intelligent and talented employee of the US Ambassador to France. However, he would love nothing more than to receive a promotion to Special Ops. One day, he finally gets his chance. If he can spend a day with top-dog CIA Agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta, Get Shorty) and earn Wax’s approval, he’ll move up in the ranks. That task proves to be a lot more challenging than Reece initially expected, as he’s forced into one violent and deadly situation after another by the psychotic-yet-masterful Wax. Will he survive the day?

The Evidence
From Paris with Love is cinematic junk food. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; I enjoy a bit of cheese every now and then. However, this experience offers so little in the way of entertainment all that’s left to contemplate is the film’s sheer lack of brains. Borrowing the rampant xenophobia of Taken and melding it with the plot of Training Day (minus the realization that the corrupt, crazy, violent guy needs to be taken down), it somehow manages to avoid the positive qualities of both films.

I can only wonder what inspires Pierre Morel to make films in which vengeful Americans plow down nameless victims of every other race and ethnicity without being subjected to any form of guilt or criticism. I was able to tolerate this in Taken, as Liam Neeson’s intensely focused performance overwhelmed any concerns of political correctness (read: if you kidnap Liam Neeson’s daughter, you gonna die). In From Paris with Love, the killings don’t seem motivated by righteous rage so much as a general love of making foreigner’s heads explode. There’s definitely an icky aftertaste, as this "all foreigners are evil… no, seriously, EVERY SINGLE ONE," mentality is pushed so far the film nearly enters the realm of comedy. Nearly.

Morel’s film might have actually reached that minor goal, if it had taken a cue from Travolta’s performance. The actor treats this material precisely as it should be treated: as a ridiculous piece of rubbish that provides a perfectly good opportunity to overact without consequence. Travolta turns his ham-o-meter up to 11 and lets loose, doing an even wilder version of the hyper-acting he did in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. It’s not exactly his best work, but it’s certainly entertaining to watch (particularly when Travolta cheerfully nods at Pulp Fiction with his hearty declaration of love for the Royale with Cheese).

The rest of the film: not so entertaining. Every other element of From Paris with Love takes itself so seriously. This becomes truly agonizing at times; never moreso than a sequence near the end which attempts to create an emotional moment, but instead displays the silliest scene I’ve witnessed since that bit in Echelon Conspiracy where Shane West shuts down an evil computer by passionately reading portions of the U.S. Constitution. The action here is typical and tiresome, save for a mildly inventive moment when Rhys Meyers attempts to avoid a never-ending series of falling bodies as he follows Wax up a spiral staircase.

Closing Statement
While From Paris with Love never quite manages to become "I-want-to-gouge-my-eyes-out" unwatchable, it’s recycled at best and repugnant at worst. If you’re just curious to see Travolta at his absolutely goofiest, consider waiting until the movie turns up on cable rather than wasting your hard-earned money on a theater ticket.

The Verdict
4/10

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