In real life, John Travolta loves Paris.  He was married there.  It’s a fact that might escape you when you see him drop into town with his guns-a-blazin’ in From Paris with Love, the new action flick from producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel.  Morel is hot off of last year’s surprise hit Taken, but whereas audiences were game to follow Liam Neeson’s vengeful dad on his action-packed mission, I don’t foresee the same result for Travolta’s abrasive secret agent.

Travolta’s Charlie Wax has arrived in Paris on an unclear mission, a mission his new partner James Reece isn’t even made aware of.  Reece acts as an aide for the U.S. Ambassador in Paris, while receiving covert instructions by a voice over the phone that appears to be his real boss.  He’s just become engaged to his French girlfriend when he receives the call instructing him to pickup Wax at the airport.  If he pulls off this mission, he might finally receive the status in the agency he has been working toward.

The only problem is that Reece is not exactly sure what the mission is.  Wax seems intent on killing as many people as possible (“about one an hour”), but never really stops to explain why.  The evidence leads them from drug dealers to prostitution rackets before finally uncovering a terrorist plot that hits Reece a little close to home.

It’s the plot that really keeps From Paris with Love from being as intriguing as Taken.  Whereas it could be argued that both films have relatively thin plots, Taken at least had a clear plot that the audience could latch on to: father seeks to rescue kidnapped daughter.  In contrast, the plot of From Paris with Love is never clear.  Even when the terrorism plot has been discovered and the villains revealed, it is still unclear as to why much of the action in the first half was necessary.

In truth, it is not necessary.  The weak follow-the-trail-of-the-evidence plotline exists merely as an excuse for a bald, goateed John Travolta to run around shooting people and tossing around some cheesy one-liners.  In fact, the story Wax gives Reece about a politician’s daughter being the reason for his attack on the drug dealers turns out to be bunk and I don’t remember the real reason to ever be revealed.  When the villain is finally revealed, it seemed as if Wax knew it all along, which again begs the question: what was the point of his killing spree?

Travolta does a good job with the action scenes and he’s believable as a volatile agent, but the action itself is standard and unimpressive.  As Reece, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, with his American accent and pencil-thin mustache, has little to do until the climax but be shocked by Wax’s antics.  I guess he did get to carry around a vase full of cocaine for half the movie, so that’s something.

It also felt strange for a movie that specifically mentioned the city of Paris in its title to not really have much specific to do with the city itself.  Aside from a brief and unnecessary visit to the Eiffel Tower, this film could have taken place anywhere.  In fact, one action scene takes place at a location Wax says reminds him of New York.  It could have been New York, and for all I know it was even filmed there.  Perhaps the Paris setting was all about setting up a Pulp Fiction reference that Travolta delivers with that knowing twinkle in his eye.  It was clever and I was surprised by the rather muted reaction to this reference from the preview audience.  Has the world already forgotten about Pulp Fiction, or had this movie already numbed their brains to the point where it just didn’t register?

From Paris with Love could have been one of those cheesy action movies to overcome its plot holes with pure fun and excitement, but unfortunately it is not that fun, nor is it incredibly exciting.  Well, at least Travolta got to enjoy Paris.

From Paris with Love is rated R for “strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality.”  Travolta’s got a foul mouth on him and the body-count is high.  This is a definite R.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of From Paris with Love.