Review of From Paris with Love (2010) by Halfwelshman — 05 Feb 2012

I was thoroughly disappointed by From Paris with Love. Luc Besson's normally energetic and no-nonsense writing feels turgid, and director Pierre Morel has made films that are both more fun (District 13) and more consistent (Taken) than this sorry affair.

Both leads are miscast - Johnathan Rhys Meyers' ambassador's assistant and part-time CIA operative James Reese quite remarkably manages to come across as both wooden and camp at the same time, and John Travolta's agent Charlie Wax is just an offensive, egotistic, fat old man who couldn't believably pull off half the stunts he does in this film (Travolta clearly has a good stunt man to do the tricky stuff, and the camera craftily cuts away whenever he's required to run).

The plot is predictable, the representations of various ethnicities in Paris borderline offensive, and the action is unimaginative, and surprisingly infrequent for an action film. The only thing the film really does is raise the occasional smile with a few passable jokes (usually when Reese points out the ridiculousness of the situation, or when Travolta is particularly hammy) though even this is somewhat spoiled by a decision to crowbar in a reference to one of the lead actor's biggest hits.

I'm sure said line was intended to be funny, but instead it just causes you to groan in deep embarrassment. From Paris with Love is only worth watching for the odd chuckle - it works on no other level, not as an action film, thriller, comment on terrorism and paranoia, not even as a buddy movie.

It's merde, Monsieur Besson and Monsieur Morel, and you both need to have a long, hard think about where your careers are heading.