1/2

From Paris with Love is like The Odd Couple with automatic weapons. This enjoyable, low rent Bourne actioneer may be preposterous, but that’s half its cheeky charm.

James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France with a comfortable life and a ravishing French girlfriend (Kasia Smutniak), also leads a double life as a low-level operative for the CIA. But he yearns for the greater responsibilities and challenges that come with being a bona fide agent. Bored with planting bugs and swapping license plates, he’s restless for a piece of the action. You know what they say Reese, be careful what you wish for—you might be partnered with special agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a wisecracking, half-cocked, trigger-happy powder keg assigned to stop a terrorist plot against a visiting U.S. delegation.

Before it’s over, Wax will lead Reese on one shooting spree after another, blow away a small army, toss a few dozen guys through some conveniently placed glass and make more than a few things go boom. Not the least of which is Reese’s mind when he discovers he’s a target of the very terrorist cell they are trying to take down.

From Paris with Love is directed with skillful (if turbulent) precision by Pierre Morel, who turned 50-something Liam Neeson into a lethal weapon sensation in last year’s hugely entertaining Taken. He does it again with John Travolta, only a couple of years Neeson’s junior. Travolta (who, I confess, I do not enjoy or find to be a particularly good actor) gobbles up the scenery. It must be particularly nutritious scenery too, as he is built in this film like a Mac truck. Sporting a bald head and goatee that makes him look like some sort of evil, Star Trek mirror universe version of his comic self, Travolta is surprisingly compelling. He has a manic energy that perfectly mirrors the film’s frenzied pacing.

Rhys Meyers, tossing around a convincing American accent that takes a while to get used to, falls somewhere between classic Hitchcockian mistaken identity and the right guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reese, who runs around half the movie with an imitation Ming vase clutched tightly to his breast (you’ll see), is written as a highly intelligent character, but it sure takes him a long time to wise up to Wax’s unorthodox methods.

From Paris with Love’s twists and turns don’t hold up to much scrutiny so don’t stare at them too hard or too long. While its title simultaneously spoofs and invokes the Bond films it pays homage to in its own, hyper-agitated sort of way, Paris doesn’t take itself nearly seriously enough to make the link. (After all, this is also the film that offers a shout out to Travolta’s most beloved role, a line sure to bring the house down.)

From Paris with Love gives its audience permission to have a mindlessly enjoyable time. As bodies pile up like cordwood, blows are delivered with bone shattering force, European luxury cars perform automotive ballets down French freeways (in a scene sure to satisfy fans of Ronan and the Transporter films), and bullets puree the air, may I offer just one bit of advice? Bring earplugs.

© Copyright 2010 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.

Cast: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak and Richard Durden
Director: Pierre Morel
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality.
Running time: 92 minutes