From Paris with Love Movie Review
‘From Paris with Love’ is definitely a boy’s movie but not to the standard that director Pierre Morel’s ‘Taken’ was at last year. I guess you could say ‘From Paris with Love’ is a combination of ‘Lethal Weapon’, ‘Die Hard’, James Bond and “The Hurt Locker”.
John Travolta plays Charlie Wax to a tee. Wax’s approach to his job is best described as ‘rock and roll’ and really this just means he doesn’t always play by the rules. Most of the movies laughs come from Wax who is a man who is never afraid to say the ridiculous or do the unthinkable. Wax is wild, unthinkable and unpredictable. And Morel did well in adding the little homage’s to Travolta’s character in ‘Pulp Fiction’ throughout different parts of the movie
Wax is partnered with Jonathon Rhys Meyers as James Reece- a government agent working at the US embassy in France. Frankly I wouldn’t have paired these two actors together as I don’t feel they mesh well together on screen. There is no chemistry between Travolta and Meyers in the scenes that they work together in and there comes a point in the movie where Morel just seems to give up trying to get the chemistry right and splits them into different realities.
‘From Paris with Love’ has its good and bad moments and if your ok with lots of bloodshed, gun fights and the odd car chase then it is actually kind of fun. There are definitely parts in the storyline where it seems bumpy and Morel is unsure about what it is about, is it a buddy- cop, lets shoot em’ up movie or is it about terrorism and the personal costs that has on lives?
This movie is not about making political statements- it is just your average shameless, violent thriller that doesn’t even try to disguise the fact that the action doesn’t revolve around a coherent plot.
Definitely a boy’s movie but I also thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely watch it again.