Travolta delivers must-see performance
Posted Feb 19, 2010 By Mark Haskins
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Tweet ThisMOVIE: From Paris With Love
STARRING: John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers
DIRECTOR: Pierre Morel
RATING: R
EMC Lifestyle - The credits began to roll and I was ready to see From Paris With Love again. It's that good.
I loved how the film drew me in. There's no explanation, no preamble, the film simply starts, and you're forced to try and keep up.
You see James Reese (Jonathan Rys Meyers) running around for the American Ambassador attached to Paris. He's just another guy in a suit until he gets a mysterious phone call. The next thing you know he's changing the licence plates on a car. He gets another call and he's planting a bug in a French politician's office. You soon realize Reese is working for the American Secret Service.
Reese isn't a full operative, but he's got ambitions to be one. He gets another call, and suddenly he's moved up to the big leagues. His mission is to get to the airport to pick up his new partner Charlie Wax (John Travolta).
Sporting a shaved head and a goatee, Wax doesn't seem like a spy. Nonetheless, Reese drives him to a Chinese food restaurant when Wax tells him to. They sit down to a meal, and then out of nowhere, Wax starts shooting up the place.
Of course Wax has his reasons. Reasons like the thugs with automatic weapons pouring out of the kitchen, and the unbelievable amount of cocaine poring out of the bullet holes in the ceiling. It's an incredible scene, but you're as baffled as James is.
It's about here you begin to figure things out. Wax is in Paris to deal with some nasty individuals. It looks like it's about drugs, but it's really about terrorists. Like Reese you're not exactly sure of all the details, but you aren't going to get a chance to think about it, because it's also at this point the film kicks into overdrive.
From Paris With Love is an adrenaline rush. What's even more incredible is that it isn't overloaded with big budget special effects. It's down and dirty filmmaking that relies on clever camera work, a solid story, slick action sequences, and inspired dialogue.
In the age of bright and glossy CGI it was refreshing to see something gritty and real.
John Travolta isn't just cool he's ultra cool. In fact he's taken cool to a whole new level. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is good. In fact I was surprised how good a team he and Travolta make, but it's Travolta's performance that makes the film.
There was never any doubt that Travolta is the baddest man on the planet. He has an intensity that's hard to describe. Simply put, Travolta kicks butt from the moment he walks on to the screen to the moment he walks off. He does it physically, he does it mentally, and he does it verbally. It's very likely the must-see performance of the year.
From Paris With Love is a gritty thrill ride that's guaranteed to shock and awe.
Mark Haskins' column is a regular feature of the EMC.
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