Feb. 03, 2010 - Issue #746: Spine
From Paris With Love
Later, Wax explains to his bewildered new partner James (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) he was just giving the guy some nonsense to stew on. But the scene's inexplicable use of the Karate Kid reference proves quite a nice summation of From Paris With Love: namely, that Travolta's apparently reckless, loose-cannon cop, is actually more of a Mr. Miyagi, surprisingly wise and always two steps ahead of everyone else—oh, that's why they carried around an urn filled with cocaine for so long—including logic.
Far be it for me to use the L-word to demean a movie clearly placing all its focus on action, but even for the genre, the script is rife with clichés —a version of the phrase, "His methods are a bit unorthodox, but he gets the job done," actually gets uttered here, in all sincerity, and unexplainable plot gaps that spiral wildly away, quickly and without reason, from the pretty basic set-up: James, a secret agent wannabe finally gets his call up to the big leagues, gets partnered with Wax and gets told to assist however he can. Of course, it's a classic odd-couple, buddy-cop scenario, except neither Travolta nor Meyers have much to build on with a script that rushes them through all the plot points, and most of which could really use a little more explanation: when the assignment turns from following the trail of a drug lord to foiling international terrorism, the dots are never properly explained enough to connect. Charlie Wax probably knows, but he isn't telling.
Partially redeeming is the action; seeing Travolta make short work of an approaching gang is well-done and legitimately exiciting, and there are a few other well-executed sequences. From Paris wants to be a serious action movie, but to be one of those, it needs a storyline with less bulletholes than the bad guys.
From Paris With Love
Directed by Pierre Morel
Written by Adi Hasak, Luc Besson
Starring John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
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