The James Logan Courier

By Laurel Brodzinsky, Courier Staff Writer

Ooh, let’s kill some people. Then let’s kill some more people. While we’re at it, let’s take some drugs, cuss a lot, and then continue killing people.

That is basically the entire plot of From Paris, with Love (Rated R). It is a 90 minute long basic action flick, released February 5th , that includes traditional running around, car chases, blowing up cars, and martial arts fighting. The premise is as follows:


James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) works as an aide in the US Embassy in Paris, and also as a CIA operative. His wish for a higher level ops position comes true when he assigned as a partner to Charlie Wax (John Travolta), who is the complete opposite from well dressed, quiet, bureaucratic Reese. Wax picks fights, shoots up buildings, jokes around, and is pretty much all-around annoying. He has been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack, though at first tells Reese it is about drug dealing.

After picking up Wax from the airport is when the killing spree begins, and then Reese’s girlfriend gets involved, and they- of course- save the day at the last minute and the world is ungrateful.

The characters are not interesting people, the plot is simplistic, and there are much better movies that you could go see with your eleven dollars. The movie moves by very fast, probably in an attempt to fit in all the action scenes while avoiding real plot or logic. It rated an average of 4.7 on Rotten Tomatoes, and I’m not really sure why the movie was even made. Occasionally there are hints at an actual message, like when Reese’s girlfriend says that just because her friend is Pakistani doesn’t mean she is a terrorist, or the idea of absolute love as Reese talks about love being the only thing that matters. However, these are overshadowed and lost in the whirlwind of action. It was vaguely amusing to see this movie with a bunch of my friends for mindless entertainment, but if it wasn’t for the fun of being with friends I don’t think there would be any redeeming qualities to From Paris, with Love.