Review of From Paris with Love (2010) by Chads. — 07 Feb 2010
In the annals of the CIA, James Reese(Jonathan Rhys Meyers) deserves to go down as one of its worst operatives ever. While being brought into the secret intelligence fold, one of the first rules his handler must have impressed on the new recruit was that he trust nobody, especially the ladies.
The moviegoer has seen the likes of "From Paris with Love" before, and is way, way, way ahead of our naive hero when Caroline(Kasia Smutniak) gives him an engagement ring before their romantic dinner on the apartment terrace.
In an anterior scene, as Reese approaches the front door, he sees a red substance in the corridor(Reese! Bend down and check to see if it's blood! Taste it!), which is the filmmaker's pathetic attempt to misdirect the moviegoer into thinking that Caroline has no ulterior facet to the supposition in which she's merely the vulnerable girlfriend of a secret agent.
"From Paris with Love" obscures Caroline's true identity by employing a MacGuffin, a cocaine ring in which Charlie Wax(John Travolta) and the fledgling CIA operative have to bust up. If the true nature of their partnership were revealed from the outset, all that John Woo-inspired action(Travolta as John Old-Fat.
) would seem impertinent. And it does, once the real objective of their mission is stated, causing the moviegoer to wish that "From Paris with Love" was less like Michael Cimino's "Year of the Dragon"(or one of Woo's great Hong Kong films) and more like Julia Loktev's "Day Night Day Night".
That's because it's hard to correlate the Caroline we're first introduced to: Reese's hot French girlfriend, beaming over an outfit she made out of curtains, with the finished product, the grim ideologue brainwashed by her fundamentalism.
What makes Caroline tick? That's your movie, not shooting up Chinese restaurants. Like Nancy Kwan in Henry Koster's "The Flower Drum Song", Caroline clearly enjoys being a girl, so her double life plays like a plot contrivance to suit the explosive climax.
This review of From Paris with Love (2010) was written by Chads. on 07 Feb 2010.
From Paris with Love has generally received mixed reviews.
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