From Paris With Love
comes at you like a bullet to the brain, a fast paced, foul mouthed,
bullet riddled action flick with a macho exterior that hides an even
more macho interior. From the director Taken, FPWL continues the love
affair Hollywood is having with low-budget, Luc Besson penned action,
FPWL follows such kick ass action flicks as Taken, The Transporter,
Columbiana, Taxi 1-4 and District 13, which has just been remade with
the late Paul Walker as Brick Mansions. These kind of films, Besson
can knock out in a week, sure they're all deeply flawed movies but
fuck a duck do these flicks kick some serious ass.
The premise is
pretty basic, James Reece, the aide to the U.S ambassador in France,
who is currently training for the C.I.A while working his normal job
is assigned a partner in shape of Charlie Wax, a bald headed, Ear
ring wearing, foulmouthed swearing, gun blazing, ass kicking Numero
uno CIA operative who is a little on the unorthodox side when it
comes to procedures. Wax is a complete bad ass, he's being doing his
job for so long he loves it and embraces the chaos. Wax and Reece are
tasked with taking down a Chinese drug smuggling ring and some
Pakistani terrorists. Instead of doing this by the book, using intel
and stealth, Wax just enters a building, pulls out a gun and starts
firing. If people get hit, they get hit, simple as that.
What makes FPWL
stand out isn't just it's actions scenes but John Travolta's gonzo
style performance as Charlie Wax. It's unlike anything we've seen
before, take Caster Troy, Vic Deakins, Ryder and Gabriel Shear,
inject him with adrenaline and make him a good guy and that is pretty
much Charlie Wax. Travolta hasn't been this good in years. His line
delivery is spot on and his constant use of the word mother fucker,
which may sit badly with some viewers, just shows that Wax doesn't
give an actual fuck who he offends as long as he gets the job done.
The mid point twist of the film comes at you like a slap to the face
and reveals Wax's inability to ask questions first. This is
Travolta's movie and I would kill to see another flick featuring
Charlie Wax.
His partner is
played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, an actor I actually can't get on
with, but as Reece he's pretty good, he's straight laced through and
through and even when he spends half the movie carrying around a vase
of cocaine he's still trying to do things by the book. As a buddy
film, Travolta and Meyers kind of work as a double act, it's
definitely a good cop/bad cop relationship.
And now for the
action scenes and holy mother of christ are these action scenes
fucking bug nuts mental. First off we get a shoot out in a Chinese
restaurant followed by Wax beating the shit out of a gang of street
thugs right before entering a building with a silenced pistol, taking
out henchman after henchman followed by two machines guns and shit
load of bullets. Then we're taken to a ghetto housing block run by a
drug dealing ten year olds where Wax discovers the Pakistani
terrorists and jumps from one floor to the floor below to take them
out and finally we get to the car chase along a freeway featuring
some top notch driving, a rocket launcher and an exploding car.
Unfortunately my breakdown of the action sequences don't do it
justice, it's the kind of film you have to see for yourself to truly
see how badass the action actually is.
I highly recommend
From Paris With Love to anyone who wants a film to pass 90 minutes
quick and something you can just enjoy without looking for a deep
meaning, this film is guns, gurns and guts and it's fucking
awesome....
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