Review: From Paris With Love (2010)
Director : Pierre Morel (District 13, Taken.)
Written by Luc Besson (directed Leon: The Professional)
Plot — Decent. The best part of the movie was the pacing of it, but it messed with character development (maybe the movie is a bit short). Once the action scenes started, they were never too far apart. The story progressed thick and fast, and I sometimes felt as if the audience got no time to know who the main character is. His ability in chess — for example — is incessantly told to us, and shown to us for less than a minute of the movie. Reese says he’s from Queens, NYC but apart from him saying it, nothing else in this movie suggests that he is from this part of the US. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ accent was quite good, and bravo to him for it, but he did not sound like he was from Queens. Moving on to his relationship with his girlfriend/fiancé, Caroline. We never see how their relationship progresses to this point, and we never see the things they have in common either. Their dialogue was filled with banter, but none that seemed particular to them as a couple. The movie is structured in such a fashion that whenever the opportunity comes for them to speak, they either circumvent it by banging or Reece getting called in to work. Even the dinner scene when Caroline’s true intentions are revealed, the movie ensures that it skips over all the potential dialogue between her and Reece from commencement till the moment of truth. In terms of plot, it seemed jumbled together. It started off fine with Reese being personal aide to the Ambassador in France, while also working for the CIA. The main character’s motivation is seen to be becoming a CIA field agent. Smooth enough so far. Where it starts to get lumpy is the introduction of John Travolta’s character, Wax as a way for Reece to achieve his motivation. Reese is to chaperone Wax around Paris as he fulfills an objective for the US government.It begins with the pair looking for a drug ring due to some bureaucrat’s relative dying from using their drugs(ostensibly). The plot then quickly and superficially proceeds to how this drug ring is funding terrorism.
While I don’t doubt the validity of this occurring, there was just no coherent link. There is never a meeting between the different drug and terrorist groups that illustrates this. Reece and Wax follow the money, but we never even know how they knew where the bank was. They then track the terrorist cell to an apartment block using some fancy gadget watch that does only that action all movie. The screenplay seemed determined to shoehorn this terrorism narrative. I wouldn’t mind it if it wasn’t so recklessly shoved in there.
Themes — The concept of using drug money to fund terrorism is commonplace but hardly ever explored in international, big-budget projects such as this movie. In FPWL, we see this with drugs sold by different groups and various races all going towards a terrorist cell. Admittedly, this seemed jumbled together in the interest of serving some patriotic narrative. The war on terror is also examined, albeit in a superficial fashion. The thought of not losing a war is used as an avenue to justify continuing a seemingly endless one. It would be dishonest to say I do not understand the perspective but it seemed a lazy way to excuse to poor leadership in reality. From an individual standpoint, the film illustrates the life of security agents and those involved in international relations. It gave an insightful perspective into how lonely the jobs can be and how easily one’s life can be infiltrated by those with ulterior motives. Reece’s (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) fiancé working for a terrorist cell and spying on him with about 10+ bugs in their apartment was rattling to not only him, but to the viewers as well. What’s also illustrated is the lack of praise and appreciation the support staff in these industries are subjected to. A diplomat’s life was saved twice in the movie, and she asked for Reece and Wax to be fired due to her having to wait to attend some egotistical conference.
Character Development: There is none. A lot of telling, not a lot of showing. We’re told Reece went to Oxford night school, and told he’s really good at chess. He at least shows us he can speak multiple languages, which was cool to see. Wax also tells a lot more than he shows, from his romantic history to other covert missions he had to partake in. His character’s laissez-faire nature was illustrated at times through just lack of decorum and an unorthodox nature in his decision making and his dialogue. All we knew about Caroline was she made clothes, which was admittedly shown to us. Anything else, we found out after she was revealed to be a spy. Lastly, the relationship with Reece and Wax is played out to be buddy-buddy before the beginning of the third act. It was rushed. Reece seemed exasperated with Wax to this point, with a pinch of just wanting to go home to his new fiancé. Wax seemed unbothered by Reece being beaten up and bullied multiple times during the course of the movie; only showing some care when Reece began to act as unorthodox as Wax. Wax saved Reece’s life a few time admittedly, but it takes a bit more to build camaraderie. It’s implied at the end of the movie that they partner up, but it seems the end was chosen before the story was even written.
Direction — Too many cuts in the action scenes. Maybe ‘Children of Men’ and ‘John Wick’ have spoiled me and I expect continuous shots all the time now. However, with John Travolta being a bit older, I understand the need for such things. I enjoyed the fact that the director chose to show parts of Paris we wouldn’t see in a typical movie. The outskirts were used prominently in the 2nd Act, and those within this area were definitely in the movie. It was also nice to see people of different races speak French, in the interest of diversity. The cinematography is functional, it’s not meant to illustrate the beauty of Paris. It focused on the action/violence, which was certainly the main point of the movie to be honest.
Enjoyable watch, solid B-/C+
