James Reese is the young assistant to the ambassador of France who holds a side job as a low-level CIA operative. Reese's day-to-day activities are for the most part boring, switching license plates on cars and planting bugs. This all changes when he is assigned to partner with the CIA's top agent Charlie wax, played by John Travolta. Reese (Jonathan Rhys Myers) has his hands full with the wild unorthodox Wax as they tear through the streets of Paris on a mission to stomp out a terror cell. This ride will take them from the projects of Paris to the main floor of the G-8 summit from pimps and low-level drug dealers to terrorist masterminds and heads of state.
Similar to Mel Gibson's recent release ‘Edge of Darkness’, ‘From Paris with Love’ is not a movie without its star. The main difference between ‘Edge of Darkness’ and ‘From Paris with Love’ is that the former is actually watchable movie, ‘From Paris with Love’ is not. Travolta breaks out and does all he can with what he's given unfortunately it's just not enough. The opening action scenes and to be honest the action scenes through most of the movie almost make this a worthwhile film but it's just not enough. Travolta was given dialogue that is meant to make his character cool, I even heard a comparison to Vincent Vega, but they miss the mark terribly. Travolta ends up sounding more like somebody's grandfather at Thanksgiving dinner table talking about his bling bling than he sounds like someone you want to hang out with. Honestly they just overcompensated in trying to make him a bad ass, no one wants to see their hero snorting coke and soliciting prostitution in between killing bad guys. When he's taking out terrorists and blowing stuff up he’s as bad as they come but then they take it too far, it's like the filmmakers are pushing it in your face saying look, look how cool is this guy, it's at this point that they fail. Charlie Wax isn't the film's only flaw though, John Rhys Myers is just a horrible actor and everything he says comes off somewhat cringe worthy. Nothing personal, but I rather listen to Hayden Christiansen narrate the Bible then watch Myers try to pull off another scene. I wish I could say it was over but I've only just begun. The story seems like two different ideas tied together with a loose string, it's like the first half of the movie was spent establishing Charlie Wax and then they didn't know what to do with he and Myer’s character Reese, like they threw a dart at a wall to find them a real purpose and then threw in a twist for good measure. As the cherry on top the ending was so bad most of the audience was laughing though I'm sure this was not the intent. The only thing worth seeing this movie for is Travolta when he's kicking ass. I did not have high hopes walking into this but as the movie started and up to about 30 minutes in I started to change my mind, the action scenes really came together and Travolta despite his look seemed to be a likable character….. This was before it all fell apart. I'll also say that the film did have some real laughs and once again had they not gone overboard they would've had a lot more. Lastly, they were at least merciful with the runtime as it clocks in at just over an hour and a half.
After ‘Transporter 3’ Luc Besson was on thin ice with me and as much as it pains me to say, he just fell through. Besson has been a part of some great things, ‘The Professional’, ‘Transporter’, ‘The 5th Element’, but his judgment seems to be failing. Either that or he just likes the paychecks, whatever the reason ‘From Paris with Love’ suffers because of it. I don't think I'll need to say it but stay away from this movie in theaters, really it's not worth the money for even a rental. If you really must see this movie just wait for cable, you'll be happy you did.
