MOVIE REVIEW: From Paris With Love
By Liliana Cerquozzi | gargoyle@flagler.edu
Put aside your ideas about John Travolta after seeing him dress up as an obnoxious mother in “Hairspray” and go see “From Paris With Love.” Your entire view on him will change as you watch him be a trigger-happy, wise-cracking loose cannon who gets rid of terrorists.
Going into this movie, my expectations were low after seeing Travolta in a dress. I couldn’t take Travolta seriously, but to my surprise, the movie kept me on the edge of my seat with a twist at the end of it. This movie has you wanting more and more action on top of the high-intensity chase scenes and the mystery of what is actually happening.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the character of James Reece, who is the personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France with a side job in the CIA. All he wants to do is become an agent to be involved in the real action.
When he is offered his first assignment to becoming an agent he takes it more than willingly, but doesn’t take into account what he is getting himself into. He partners up with Charlie Wax (Travolta) who leads him on what appears to be a wild goose chase but later finds out they are on a mission to stop a terrorist attack.
James finds out that he is actually the target of the crime they are trying to bust and realizes that Charlie may be his only chance of making it out alive.
Of course in this movie there is a small “love” story behind it, but it certainly should not deter the film. It is full of action, explosions and of course a few laughs from Travolta’s witty character.
BOTTOM LINE: The action is well crafted and exciting to watch, but “From Paris With Love” is a miss thanks to a silly first half that is made up somewhat by a far more solid second half. THE GOOD: Director Pierre Morel proved his action chops more than adequately in his hit film “Taken”, and in many respects, he delivers yet again with some fast and frenetic action in this action tale of two government agents taking out a group of terrorists one at a time before they can commit their diabolical plot.