(Long Island, N.Y.) It’s funny- Taken, the excellent action movie starring Irish actor Liam Neeson that was released last year (reviewed HERE), keeps getting mentioned in my recent reviews. Last week I took note of the comparisons made in the entertainment press between Taken and Mel Gibson’s recent film Edge of Darkness (reviewed HERE). This week Taken bears mentioning once again, as its director, Pierre Morel, also helmed the subject of today’s review: From Paris With Love, a blazingly fast-paced French-made action movie starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Long-time readers of mine will probably recall how exacerbated I’ve become with the action movies produced within the last 10 years or so. Unlike the hard-hitting, “take-no prisoner”-style stars of the 80’s and 90’s, modern action movies tend to feature the type of lead actors that would have served as mere cannon fodder to the Schwarzeneggers of yesteryear. I was close to surrendering all hope for the genre when an intense little film named Taken reared its head, proving to me that completely ruthless action movie protagonists that get the job done were NOT a thing of the past after all.
Directed by Pierre Morel and co-written by Luc Besson (director of The Professional), Taken spun the tale of a man slaughtering half of France in a bid to rescue his abducted daughter from the clutches of a sex slavery ring. In their newly-released follow-up, Morel and Besson prove that their previous collaboration was indeed no fluke; From Paris With Love once again delivers the goods like no recent action flick (before or since Taken, that is) has.
From Paris With Love (no relation to the similarly-titled James Bond movie) is light on story, and what little is there basically exists simply to help usher along non-stop scenes of action and bloodletting. I’ll recap the tale for your edification, but since I don’t have much to work with, it ain’t gonna take long: James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is the personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France and part-time lackey for the Central Intelligence Agency. When not playing nursemaid to diplomats and heads of state, he’s running around doing the CIA’s low-level scrub work, but he does it happily in hopes of one day landing a job as a full-fledged agent. The opportunity to move up the ladder finally comes in the form of the ridiculously-named Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a skilled, deadly, high-level CIA operative that James has been assigned to as a partner to aid in stopping a terrorist attack. Charlie, with his shaven head, chains, and leather jacket, is a man “on the edge” that “plays by his own rules.” You just know that he’s had his badge and gun taken away by a Stupid Chief at least a few times in his career, but he always gets them back. Why? Because he gets results.
Anyway, once James picks him and his beloved cans of energy drink (don’t ask) up from the airport, Charlie hits the ground of Paris running and it isn’t soon before bullets are flying and people are dying. James tries his best to keep up with the wild Charlie and his antics, and soon realizes he must really kick it into high gear if he’s going to make it as an agent in the field…or even through the next 5 minutes. But it’s soon revealed that James might have an actual connection to the case Charlie’s working on, and that connection might not only cost him his life, but the lives of thousands of others as well.
I liked From Paris With Love a lot. Sure, it barely has a plot and all the characters are as thin as the paper the script was typed on, but it’s fast-paced, action-packed, funny, and Travolta was a blast. He plays the role of Charlie Wax with equal parts zany and bad-ass- when the straight-laced James finally becomes unhinged and starts beating a suspect, not only does Charlie display a level of pride not unlike that of a father for a son, but he gleefully starts egging him on as well! How great is that?
Also, Charlie’s rather gung-ho character is extremely proficient at (and possibly overjoyed at the prospect of) killing large quantities of people with very little effort. He’s a guy that just takes care of business with no hesitation or remorse, and it’s this single-mindedness of purpose that has been missing from action movies for years. Charlie doesn’t get tearfully reflective on his past or wonder if all the blood spilt is wrong…he’s too busy dealing death and trying to whip his sissy-boy partner into shape. It’s the French, I’m telling ya. They know action (not to mention how to instill a degree of endearing quirkiness in their films). You don’t get completely ferocious movies like From Paris With Love from American studios, who foolishly feel they have to “humanize” their heroes by making them soft and/or merciful. The French, on the other hand, understand that the fastest way from Point A to Point B is, mathematically speaking, zero. As in, “zero surviving bad guys.” I’m not sure what (if anything) Pierre Morel has directed before the one-two punch combo of Taken and From Paris With Love, but I’m certainly keeping him on my radar in the future, as this man can handle action like a champ. While I do wish the talented Luc Besson would direct more often (he’s more interested in building up his production studio and writing these days), if Morel is the man to fill his shoes, I’ll deal with it.
Okay, I’m done with my rant- back to the acting. Jonathan Rhys Meyers was solid (despite my friend Don’s claim otherwise) as diplomatic stooge and rookie CIA agent James, looking unnervingly like a young Miguel Ferrer circa Robocop. Oh, and Polish actress Kasia Smutniak (as James’ girlfriend Caroline) did a good job of looking hot and reciting her lines, but really, this movie totally belonged to Travolta. I just wish he had gotten himself into better shape for it; it would have made his various stunts a bit easier to believe if he wasn’t rocking a little pot belly. But the super-tight editing (and some good look-alike stunt men) enabled me to put that aside and completely buy into what he was doing. For example, there’s a crazy scene where some bad guys have an actual fire pole running through a hole cut into the living room floor of their apartment as an escape route. Travolta follows the baddies down by diving into the hole head-first and wrapping his legs around the fire pole, leaving his hands free to pump everyone fill of lead while sliding upside-down. Now you KNOW Travolta didn’t do all that himself, but due to an expertly-cut series of shots and a guy that looked relatively like him taking the dive, I’ll be damned if it didn’t look a heck of a lot like he did. That’s good filmmaking, there. In contrast, the recently-released Jackie Chan family comedy “The Spy Next Door” tried the same trick with its aging star (previously known for his acrobatic abilities), with far less stellar results. Note to filmmakers: don’t hire doubles who are a foot taller and 35 years younger than your star if you insist on having long, sustained, straight-on shots of the stunts. It just doesn’t work.
Overall, From Paris With Love was really fun. It’s light on plot and character development (light? that’s being kind), but heavy on guns, violence, speed, and personality. I’m giving it three stars because I love well-done action films, but if you’re in no way a fan of the genre, feel free to subtract at least a star. Of Morel/Besson’s two movies, I think I liked Taken a bit more- unlike From Paris With Love, Taken’s plot actually has some emotional resonance due to the kidnapping angle, so they’re hard to compare. However, Travolta’s character was easily as ruthless as Liam Neeson’s in Taken, so perhaps a team-up between the two is called for? Wow, could you imagine that…Paris would be decimated, if not all of Europe. Make it happen, Luc Besson.
Oh, and I’ll leave you with one more thing: “A Royale with Cheeseeeeee.” Go watch From Paris With Love to make sense of that one, but it’ll be funnier if you’ve seen Pulp Fiction.
