SectionsThinking not needed for 'Paris'
Karman Bowers
Issue date: 2/9/10 Section: Features
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James Reese (Rhys Meyers) is a low-level CIA operative whose day job is being the personal aide for the American Ambassador in France. Reese has aspirations of being a secret agent and gets his chance when he is teamed up with the unorthodox, number one CIA assassin Charlie Wax (Travolta). Together they work to take out a terrorist cell trying to do, well, terrorist stuff.
The thing about this movie is the plot does not matter one single bit, so much that even the filmmakers don't seem to think it matters. The main information drop, where we are supposed to comprehend exactly what is going on, is given during a drug-induced haze when the screen is blurring and the sound is drowned out and all we hear is "terrorists" and "blow up."
Part of this may be that Luc Besson didn't write the actual screenplay for "From Paris," only the story. It was directed by Pierre Morel who also directed "Taken," which was written by Besson and probably explains why, while both films look and feel similar, "Taken" had a much better plot.
The only decent plot point was the great "ah-ha" moment when you realize who is really behind whatever is going on. It's actually a similar moment to the one in "Taken," but again, same director means same style. The car chases, again with the favored Audis, were amazing, just like in "Taken."
That being said, if you like mindless action and over-the-top shootouts, then "From Paris with Love" is incredibly fun to watch. In fact, the best thing about this movie was watching Travolta kill pretty much everyone. I mean everyone. They even joke in the film that, within the last 24 hours, he averaged about one kill an hour. Not bad.
All in all, it's not as good as it could have been, but it makes a good rental. It could even be a fine trip to the theater if you're in a good butt-kicking mood and with some friends. Just don't go expecting too much.
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