Tag Archives: “Jonathan Rhys MEyers”

From Paris with Love

From Paris with Love poster

From Paris with Love poster

John Travolta is back, (Did he REALLY ever go anywhere?), apparently with a vengeance against anyone and everyone…

At it’s core, “From Paris” (a Luc Besson film) is a pure action flick, with a little bit of cop buddy movie thrown in. The film starts out deceptively low key, with a bit of whimsy, that sets the mood for not taking itself too seriously, while almost slapping other spy moveis in the face with a lead lined glove. James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), the probie, is assigned to place a bug in the office of a high ranking official, and he attempts to stick it under the desk with a piece of gum. After a few amusing attempts, he uses a stapler to unglamourously secure it.

Charlie Wax (John Travolta) is the probie’s next assignment. He is tasked with escorting Wax around Paris. Upon meeting Wax for the first time, he is being held in customs, assaulting the security officials with f-bombs aplenty. We soon find out that this “persona” was used as a diversion to buy him time to be able to smuggle in his favorite gun…

Within the series of events that ultimately end up making a bit of sense, there are glimpses of deepness that I would have liked to have seen examined more. But if that were to happen, “Paris” would not be a typical action flick. It takes us down into a world of drugs, violence, more violence, assassination, conspiracy and terrorism. And it all takes place in a about 36 hours.

Mr Travolta is pretty convincing as a bad ass “covert” operative. There is not a whole lot of hand to hand combat, but the amount of bullets more than makes up for it. Even if that amount of bullets leaves us calling “BS!” that he receives nary a scratch from all the flying lead…  Unless he gets a little more pep in his step, they may want to consider not using him for the running chase scenes… (Not nearly as bas as Steven Segal, but he’s no Will Smith)

To sum up, “From Paris with Love” is a pretty capable, and not completely dumbed down action movie. Will I own it? Doubtful. Does it do as advertised and take you on a whirlwind ride? Yes.