From Paris with Love: Review

Synopsis

Jonathon Rhys Meyers plays a low level CIA operative who takes on the more mundane aspects of the job, his ultimate dream is to be promoted to a field agent and finally see some action. He’s soon promoted into escorting Charlie Wax (John Travolta) around Paris, a agent with questionable methods, he shoots first asks questions later and likes to slam the word “motherfucker” around…. a lot! The pair soon head around Paris frequently killing people or blowing up buildings, all in the name of justice… whilst using the word “motherfucker” Oh, did I mention he likes to use the word “motherfucker”?

Ok let me get this off my chest, this film is ridiculous…. If you can accept a fifty year old man sliding down a fireman’s pole upside down with a machine gun in each hand wasting all manor of bad guys then you’re in for an enjoyable ride. If you can’t and you’re expecting well thought out choreographed action sequences like the Bourne films, then your gonna be in trouble! Me, I’m the kind of guy that loved MI2, as long as the film knows its being ridiculous and the audience is in on the joke, then I’m fine with it! John Travolta is the clearly the best thing in this (even though he looks fucking weird with a skinhead, he doesn’t look dangerous – more along the lines of a camp Ming the Merciless). I thought Jonathon Rhys Meyers was pretty inconsistent, if I’m honest I’m not sure whether I liked him in this role or not? I’m not sure whether it was the writing to blame or his performance?

Pierre Moral the director behind the uber serious Taken has the reigns on this one, obviously with From Paris with Love Pierre Moral he is treading some unfamiliar territory with the buddy cop approach, there’s plenty of hit and miss sequences. And for the first 15-20 minutes of this flick I thought I was going to fucking hate it! The humour felt forced, I wasn’t relating to Meyers character and I found myself slowing cringing and sinking into the depths of my seat. That said, in steps Travolta, who’s like a fucking shining beacon of light! He looks and dresses ridiculous, he acts ridiculous, his Charlie Wax is so much of an over the top arsehole – that I found him utterly hilarious. The action scenes are all completely over the top, with Wax pretty much opening fire on anyone that looks at him twice.

From this review you probably would think I hated it, I never -I found myself thoroughly enjoying From Paris with love especially given the shaky start, sure I have no idea what was going on… I still have no idea why they were in Paris?? Something to do with terrorists?? That’s all I got! The action is completely over the top but it was fun (at least there was no shaky cam!!). Ultimately From Paris with Love may not be the best intelligent action flick ever… but it’s certainly enjoyable – if you’ve got a few hours to kill………….. Motherfucker!

Score    **½ (2½ out of 5)