Just in time for Valentine's Day: a John Travolta shoot-'em-up that makes the City of Love look like a bad day in Baghdad.Parisian producer Luc Besson ("The Professional") has carved out a lucrative niche for himself with a string of touristic action thrillers borrowing even-handedly from Hong Kong and Hollywood. They include "The Transporter," "District 13: Ultimatum" and last year's hit "Taken," in which retired spy Liam Neeson turned the French capital upside down to save his daughter from sex traffickers.
Besson has a story credit on the new "From Paris with Love" too, and it's easy to imagine him scribbling it on the back of a napkin as he toasted "Taken" topping the box office charts.
This time, American counterterrorist Charlie Wax (Travolta) doesn't have a personal motive to rampage around the Peripherique. It's all in the line of duty, but the body count is astronomical. "About one an hour" is Charlie's conservative estimate a day into the mission.
In place of the craggy, hard-boiled Liam Neeson, we get a bald, goateed Travolta in a yashmagh. (If you thought his Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray" was larger than life, wait until you see him here.) There's not much to be gained from resisting JT in full showboat mode; he'll eat you for breakfast and still have ample room for that Royale with Cheese (dieting doesn't seem to be on his agenda).
Presumably, this is what Besson -- and his protégé, director Pierre Morel -- paid him for. Roping in junior diplomat Jonathan Rhys Meyers as straight man-cum-stooge, the three of them stand well back and serve him up scene after scene, all of which he scarfs down with relish, if not always in the service of a story that could use a more jaundiced eye.
Most irritating is the way this charismatic "ugly American" is given license to wipe out one immigrant minority after another: the entire waiting and kitchen staff of a Chinese restaurant, for starters (a front for a drug ring, it transpires), and then their Pakistani suppliers, plus any woman who has anything to say for herself.
A shootout in a warehouse full of naked mannequins is a cheeky steal from Stanley Kubrick's early noir "Killer's Kiss," but Kubrick knew the difference between dummies and flesh and blood; to Morel, they're interchangeable.
At least that keeps things simple. You wouldn't want to have to think twice about a flick like this -- or once, actually.
The action is free-flowing in the best Besson house style, but the twists are too telegraphed, and the climax feels oddly disjointed.
But it does have its moments. Best is the strain of black comedy that has Rhys Meyers following his partner up a spiral staircase, stepping over the bodies that keep flying down from the floor above, clutching a Chinese vase full of contraband cocaine for Wax's personal amusement. Yes, Charlie do surf."From Paris with Love" is rated R and runs 95 minutes. For Entertainment Weekly's review, click here.
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