Commando and other films of it's era created a genre unlike
any other, one that prides itself on cheese, witty retorts, poor camera work and
even
less convincing stunts : the "So Bad It's Good Movie".
The thing
about the "So Bad It's Good Movie" is that you can't purposely make one
- and when you try - you end up with something like From Paris With Love.
Following
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as James Reece (a personal aide to the U.S.
Ambassador in France) and his side job as a low-level operative for the
CIA, From Paris With Love wants
desperately to be a Jason Statham styled B-Grade popcorn classic.
It uses
every trick at the genre's disposable (admittedly, the man behind the flick is
Transporter scribe Luc Besson, so in
theory it should work) but for some
reason From Paris With Love fails to
ever really be as genuinely good as Bourne, as fun as Taken or as downright stupid as First Blood : Part II.
This
largely comes down to casting, in particular, the casting of John
Travolta as the traditional "Agent Whose Methods Are Unorthodox"
Charlie Wax.
While Wax possesses all of the traits of a classic
action movie character (a trigger-happy, wisecracking, loose cannon),
Travolta struggles to bring him to life - partly due to the fact it is
frighteningly clear we are watching "Travolta" and partly due to the fact that
John
Travolta looks like Steven Segal during his "I'm too fat to actually
do any real stunts" phase.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers isn't free of blame
either. Sure, he may send female hearts a flutter in The Tudors
- but when it comes to an American accent and pulling off "My partner
is crazy!", he ultimately looks like a little kid trying to mimic "The
movie stars I done seen on the teee-veeee". It
really doesn't work on any level at all.
There
are some fun scenes (a freeway chase involving a bazooka), but again,
it is the John Travolta factor (keep an eye out for a stunt in which he
slides upside down on a fireman's pole while shooting two guns at once,
ridiculous) which ruins any momentum From
Paris With Love builds up.
By the time a cringe worthy reference
to Pulp Fiction arrives... all hope is
lost.
From Paris With Love is
not a good film - but it's not a bad film either... and that is it's biggest
problem. DVD Special Features
Quite a few extras are floating around, but none of which are worth
writing home about. There are commentaries, featurettes galore (plenty
on the stunts) and a great big dollop of "nothing exciting".
The
hope is that this movie becomes a cult hit... my hope is that it
becomes the movie people disregard from existing so as not to shame the
name John Travolta.
Conclusion:
Movie 30% Extras: 50%
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