After the relatively successful Taken last year (a film I thoroughly enjoyed which also just happened to be the very first film I reviewed for Hollywoodjesus.com), I really was hoping Pierre Morel's From Paris with Love would offer a similar actio- packed tale that was both entertaining and emotional and even a little thought-provoking. Sadly, From Paris with Love is none of the above. Aside from the far-less-than-exceptional acting performances by John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (both of which are almost painful to watch), dialogue that is weak at best, and an almost undecipherable plot, the film itself relies much more on flashy action sequences with heavily overused slow-motion special effects than on any kind of storyline.

Now, I don't necessarily believe that the filmmakers here had any greater intentions than doing some simple entertaining. There will no doubt be an audience of people who find this movie amusing and enjoyable to watch. Although I was not one of those people, there were a few things in this film that surprisingly did actually make me consider how relevant to life even the most deplorable actions and behavior can sometimes be.

The film takes place in (where else?) Paris following James Reece, the personal assistant to the United States Ambassador to France. In addition to being newly engaged to his fiancèe Caroline, James is working as some type of lower-level U.S. special operative, a job in which he is eager to move up the ranks. When James finally gets the call he has been waiting for and the chance to become a full-fledged member of the team, he jumps at the opportunity. As James heads off to meet his brand new partner, special agent Charlie Wax, it remains clear that Caroline is still on James' mind and no matter how much he has longed for this promotion, she is still the most important thing to him. Soon after departing, James is whisked into the insane life of being a special agent "Charlie Wax" style, which involves lots of fighting, lots of weapons, and results in lots and lots of dead people.

Although it is never 100% clear what exactly the purpose of their mission is other than that they are doing something to help fight the risk of a terrorist attack somewhere in the world (maybe even in Paris), what is crystal clear is the difference in operation styles of James and Charlie. James is very thoughtful and methodical in his ways and likes to do as much as he can without ruffling any feathers. Wax is rash and quick to act and is never afraid to fire his weapon or shoot someone in the head. He has a foul mouth and even worse behavior. He is forceful and abrasive and only knows of one way to do things in life: his way. Ethical dilemmas and conflicts of interest don't exist for him. He just does what he wants, takes everything that he can get, and doesn't stop until he decides to. No matter how much James begs him to think things through he just throttles forward, typically destroying everything standing in his way.

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