John Travolta’s new action film “From Paris with Love” does itself a favor and a disservice with one throwaway scene.
Travolta’s character, in a rare moment without violence, extols the virtue of a Royale with Cheese.
The line takes us back to an infinitely better Travolta vehicle – “Pulp Fiction.”
It also announces “Paris” is nothing more than cinematic fast food – tasty, easily digested and nothing to brag about.
Travolta stars as Charlie Wax – or Wax to his friends and anyone who gets in the sights of his cherished gun – a CIA agent assigned to stop a terrorist attack in gay Paris. He’s paired up with a neophyte spy named Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a by-the-books type eager to make a splash in the espionage game.
Can you say mismatched buddy action comedy?
The story here is fractured and hard to follow, what with all the male bonding and dead bodies piling up all around us. Reese wants to prove he has what it takes to be a spy, but he’s worried about spending time away from his loyal squeeze (Kasia Smutniak).
Why anyone would assign a rookie to stop a terrorist attack is beyond us … but not the minds behind the film (some of whom gave us last year’s superior film “Taken”).
Wax doesn’t have much on his mind beyond creating mayhem wherever he goes, and he’s so unpolished it’s amazing he survived his first gunfight.
Travolta is having a blast, his newly shaved head winking at the audience as much as his performance is. But he’s given few funny lines to work with – see the Royale with Cheese reference above – and the rest of the time he’s trying too hard to be the film’s wild card.
Meyers is blandly acceptable as his foil, the Irish actor pretending to be from a tough section of New York. But the comic tension derived from their disparate skill levels soon disappears. Seems Reese is a very quick learner at the spy game – but what’s with that cheesy, pencil thin mustache?
The film wraps with a scene that cries out for a sequel, but “From Paris with Love” hasn’t earned enough audience good will to warrant such plans.
And who wants a Big Mac II or Whopper: Part Deux?
(Photo: John Travolta stars as Charlie Wax in “From Paris with Love.” Photo credit: Eric Caro/Lionsgate)
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