Movie Review: From Paris with Love

Action movies are a interesting genre. The audience expects to be entertained, surprised, and amused. However, each movie treads a very thin line between worthwhile and worthless. At best an action movie can feel like a roller coaster of explosions, wisecracks and clever ways for bad guys to die. At worst it can seem disjointed, overly full of itself, packed with lame jokes and seemingly pasted together. From Paris with Love is a perfect example of both the highs and lows.

The Jonathan Rhys Meyers/John Travolta 2010 action flick has some very well scripted and shot action sequences. The rest is pretty much bunk. Rhys Meyers plays an ambassador's aide, James Reece, who also is evidentially a low level black operations agent. His main contact is a disembodied voice on the phone who Reece seems to blindly trust without giving the audience any reason to the he should. Travolta, playing a American spook stereotype and looking a bit like Mr. Clean's evil twin, is dropped into the movie as the main source of conflict and action. He kills without remorse, he cracks jokes, he makes Reece take drugs and wreaks general havoc on Paris. The first 40 minutes feel painfully like a forced overacted version of Training Day.

As a viewer, I kept waiting for the twist, the big bad guy reveal or the double cross. When it finally comes, in the form of Reece's fiancee, it seems completely out of context and laughable. In an attempt to shock the audience the move comes off nothing more than that. From that point on Travolta changes from lunatic to mentor and the second half of the movie feels entirely different from the first. The film hits rock bottom with a scene that clearly was added to the script once Travolta signed on. After a shoot out and the killing of several supposed terrorists, the two main characters share a heart to heart moment about killing and their work while Travolta eats and references his "royale with cheese". I kid you not.

As Redbox or Netflix rental, the action sequences and the overacting by Travolta are almost worth it. However with the sheer number of action movies available, I highly recommend finding another option. Michael Caine's Get Carter is a classic that show an action movie can be a true thrill ride without being just plain asinine. A much better option in my opinion.

Grade: C.