Rated R; running time, 95 minutes
1 star out of 4
BY JAKE COYLE
Associated Press
In "From Paris with Love," John Travolta plays a violent but chatty CIA agent who, while bullets fly, likes to engage in dialogue that recalls "Pulp Fiction" as if written by action film hacks.
The Tarantino comparison only serves to make "From Paris with Love" appear all the more slight.
The film is directed by Pierre Morel, who helmed another spy thriller, the surprising 2008 hit "Taken." Both were written from a story idea by the French action filmmaker Luc Besson.
Like that film, "Paris" turns drama stars into stealth, deadly spies. Alongside Travolta (Charlie Wax), Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays James Reese, an aide to the U.S. ambassador of France (Richard Durden).
The ceiling for a movie like this is, at best, Guy Ritchie or John Woo territory -- which is to say, quite low indeed. But the biggest thing standing in the way of "From Paris with Love" achieving even that standard is the laughable casting.
That needn't be an impediment; the fish-out-water is a standby of many a thriller. But in "From Paris With Love," his character, though inexperienced, quickly adapts to the carnage.
Having more fun is Travolta. With a shaved head, a thick goatee, an earring and a leather coat with an upturned collar draped by a scarf, he resembles a biker from Soho.
He throws himself fully into the film, but it never feels like anything more than action movie dress-up.
