After the recent tragedy in his life, it’s easy to see why John Travolta take on the part of over the top crazy CIA agent Charlie Wax. He’s having fun again and it shows on screen in his every action. From Paris with Love is a movie that you don’t take serious, you just watch it and enjoy it for what it is. As someone who went to Paris for the first time last year it was great seeing some of the familiar sites in the background. Oddly enough, no one in the movie actually spoke French.
The trailers for this lead you to believe Travolta is a psycho bad guy, but no, he’s one of ours – a psycho CIA Agent who is on the trail of a terrorist cell, he is partnered up with local CIA Agent James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who desperately wants to be a field agent. His first assignment is to be Wax’s chauffer. Wax goes on a killing spree shooting up every drug house he finds to track down the leader of the cell. After being in Paris for 24 hours Wax goes on a one-man killing spree, at one point he jokes that he’s averaging 1 kill an hour.
I love it when a director (Pierre Morel who did Transporter) knows what kind of movie they are making and aren’t ashamed to go full throttle. It’s campy and a fun ride.
Picture Quality, Audio and Presentation
What is there to say? The 1080p transfer is nice and crisp. I don’t think it’s eye popping or reference quality work, but it’s a solid, nice transfer. I like the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I like the menu navigation, a big bar at the end, everything else is transparent and blends nicely with the movie and it has huge fonts. Subtitles are available in Spanish and English, but oddly the soundtrack is in English DTS HD and French but not Spanish?
Trailers
- Kick Ass
- Tetro (Weird looking movie)
- Killers
Features
I’m a fan of picture in picture; this disc includes a Bonus View mode with the director doing commentary. But I didn’t like that the picture was so small and Pierre isn’t the most dynamic man in the world. I like Picture in Picture when you get to see all aspects of the movie like Warner Home Video’s Maximum movie mode. There’s a 27 minute Making of clip, a five-minute look at the International Spy Museum (I really have to spend some time exploring in DC) and a 16 minute look at the Life of Spies.
Comments
Not much to say, if you want a fun over the top action movie that’s short and to the point, then you really can’t do wrong with From Paris With Love. It’s the perfect Saturday night rental. Lions Gate Home Video does an excellent job with this Blu-ray.
Grades
- Movie – B
- Picture Quality – B+
- Audio – B
- Presentation – B
- Features – B
Final Overall Grade B
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 6.20.2010