The big stupid explodes in Paris
Sometimes I need a big stupid movie. Entertainment can come in many forms and when cinema is concerned I don’t believe that form always has to be life-changing, dramatic, or spiritually empowering. Sometimes what you’re looking for is what i like to call “The Big Stupid.”
Imagine a world in which a lone anti-hero, surrounded by chinese wait-staff armed with submachine guns, loudly and and explosively destroys all that would oppose him. Jumping over tables, firing through walls and dodging a thousand and one bullets all intent on killing him, our hero survives without a scratch. In this world no police are notified of the gun battle. Sirens never come as a harbinger of the impending arrival of the authorities.
In this world our same anti-hero can empty and entire clip of his automatic pistol without the terrorist across the street ever catching wind of the danger just yards away. Meanwhile the anti-hero’s accomplice can wade through these over-the-top gun battles making terrified faces while carrying a chinese vase full of cocaine and never spilling a drop. Imagine this world in which our anti-hero decides the best way to stop an bomb threat is to hang out of an automobile speeding down the freeway with a bazooka in his hand. Finally Imagine this anti-hero is none other than a shaved-bald, goatee sporting, wise-cracking John Travolta.
This world comes to life in the 2010 film “From Paris with Love.” Johnathan Rhys Meyers is James Reece, an ambitious aid to the U.S. Ambassador in Paris. Reece is bent on joining the upper echelons of some unnamed branch of the secret service. As the film opens his spy duties are relegating to secretly swapping out license plates on espionage vehicles. He gets the call to escort a “real” secret agent and jumps at the chance to further his career.
This “real” secret agent is more agent than secret. In fact Charlie Wax (John Travolta) isn’t much of an agent either. He’s a one man destructive force who eventually punches and shoots his way through not only a chinese drug cartel a pakistani terrorist cell but most of Paris. Reece is at first at odds with his unorthodox partner but eventually learns Wax has a method to his madness.
What follows is essentially a by the numbers action piece where the good guys survive impossible odds in implausible situations while traipsing about Paris. What sets “From Paris with Love” apart is not its story, script nor any overly exemplary acting — though I was surprised that I actually enjoyed Travolta as Wax — but the fact that this film knows exactly what it is. “From Paris with Love” doesn’t break the fourth wall but it comes drastically close. The characters know just how over the top all this is. Reece even comments on the body count at one point in the film claiming they must have reached an average of one kill an hour. He does this without any over dramatics and remorse. Reece himself acts impressed.
The action scenes aren’t anything overly exciting. They’re loud and explosive but that just serves to cover up the fact that the story in this film is anemic at best. Throughout the film it’s the characters reaction to the action that provides the bulk of the entertainment. Funny and crass one-liners and self referential jokes populate the film more so than the body count.
As fine cinema art goes, “From Paris with Love” fails. But it doesn’t try to be fine art. It tries and succeeds to be the epitome of “The Big Stupid.” It entertains at rapid pace along the way and offers a worthwhile release never taking itself too seriously.
From Paris with Love (2010)
Stars: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Kasia Smutniak
Director: Pierre Morel
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality
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