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Mr. Beaks Grants Pierre Morel's FROM PARIS WITH LOVE Diplomatic Immunity!
SPOILER ALERT !!
For the second year in a row, director Pierre Morel will treat U.S. moviegoers to a pre-Super Bowl bloodbath set in Paris, France. This should become a tradition.
And it could - with or without Morel, because the undeniable, pulsatingly gaudy sensibility behind last year's TAKEN and this year's FROM PARIS WITH LOVE is Euro-Bruckheimer himself, Luc Besson. Ever since he acquired a taste for the high-gloss nonsense of American action movies with his empty-headed LA FEMME NIKITA, Besson has been a prolific and enthusiastic provider of studio-slick product to the worldwide market. He flirted with respectability for a moment as a director in the '90s (with the miraculously great LEON and the migraine-inducingly awful THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC), but ultimately threw his creative energies into producing really stupid movies like TAXI, KISS OF THE DRAGON, THE TRANSPORTER and so on. This may sound insulting, but it's not; I happen to like really stupid movies when they're slapped together with some degree of craft and/or sincerity, so there's a part of me that admires Besson's high standards when it comes to churning out shit.
FROM PARIS WITH LOVE is as junky and moronic as any piece of refuse in the Besson canon, but, for some, it's viewed as a cut above owing to the involvement of Morel, who did a fine job of managing the parkour mayhem in DISTRICT B13, and capably guided Liam Neeson through the righteous dispatching of many a slave-trading henchman in TAKEN. Suddenly, there's a burgeoning belief that Morel is something more than just a steady hand behind the camera, that he might be the next John Woo, if not better (which would make him the next Sam Peckinpah).
Though it may not be apparent from the trailers and commercials (which wisely play up the wild third-act freeway chase), FROM PARIS WITH LOVE is more thematically ambitious than anything Morel's attempted before; once you get past the whizzing bullets and John Travolta's best Nicolas Cage performance since FACE/OFF, it's a tough-minded film about what it takes to effectively prosecute the War on Terror. And this isn't smuggled-in commentary: it's delivered at point-blank range. To defeat the enemy, you must think and behave like the enemy. Anything less could mean the end of civilization as we know it.
Johnathan Rhys Myers stars as James Reese, the wet-behind-the-ears CIA recruit pulling double duty as an assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to France. As the film begins, he's still proving his worth to the agency by performing minor errands (e.g. the placing of a bug in another diplomat's office). This setup is necessary in that it establishes the humdrum life of a low-level spook, but it also gets the film off to a listless start. Morel and screenwriter Adi Hasak are clearly looking to establish Reese as a sympathetic protagonist in these scenes (particularly those with his lovely fiancee), but they fail because they hold him, and his naive worldview, in contempt. Spying is just a chess match for Reese; he doesn't understand the stakes, and, as a result, innocent people could be put at risk. This isn't explicitly stated by Morel and Hasak, but he's such a cocky little shit, we're eager to see him get fucked up.
Enter Travolta's Charlie Wax, a cartoon-character badass who speaks in authentic 1980s Hollywood ghetto-ese (he says "motherfucker" a lot) and gleefully flouts international law. Wax is supposed to be Reese's partner, but, as they plunge headlong into their "job" (something to do with Pakistani drug dealers/terrorists; only their race is important), the relationship quickly turns into one of teacher-student. The hope here is that we're constantly uncertain as to Wax's intent: is he an ends-justifiy-the-means savior ala 24's Jack Bauer or just a corrupt monster like Alonzo in TRAINING DAY (which FROM PARIS WITH LOVE shamelessly apes in the early going)? Hasak tries to throw us off by having Wax hoover up some stolen cocaine, but he's at least a man who gets things done, which makes him far more likable than the spineless, by-the-book Reese. He had us at "motherfucker".
The film's shopworn story mechanics would be excusable if the action set pieces were more inventively staged, but they're only competent (or, in the case of an intended-to-be-humorous stairwell shootout, clumsy) until the film takes a serious turn late in the second act. Once the movie has a purpose (as TAKEN did throughout), Morel switches on and gives us a car chase that's worthy of second-unit maestro Dan Bradley - and it's not a coincidence that this smashingly effective sequence goes down while Reese is in another part of Paris. Though it takes us a few scenes to adjust to his histrionics (largely because the film is a lethargic snooze until he appears), Wax is the show. He's also the by-any-means-necessary conscience of the film. He doesn't imprison or interrogate. He acts. And he's always right.
This murderous certitude is straight-up right-wing horseshit plucked straight from the Bronson age, but Morel shovels it with just enough panache that you don't mind; it's all harmlessly cathartic so long as you leave your bloodlust in the theater. The Woo comparisons may be bunk, but I'll happily entertain the notion that he's the new Michael Winner - who'd also be an odd choice to direct DUNE. Not that I really care who fucks up Frank Herbert next. I just want to know who Besson's sending over with the red meat next Super Bowl weekend.
Faithfully submitted,
Mr. Beaks
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it's a mess
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and this may be the greatest film i have ever seen in my entire laugh. this movie makes the phrase fight fire with fire come to life. john travolta is bald the fiancee is lovely the third act frreeway chase is amazing! the best film since the fifth element. better than ronin, better than universal soldier 2. and escape from LA. this movie is fucking SICKKKKK!KK!K!K!K!K!KHFSBJFJFS
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He's directed some flat-out great movies, and you're plain wrong about NIKITA. Drop the smug hipster shit and judge the films on their own merits. You're better than this.
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i never laugh. i live and love only for ACTION MOVIES THAT KICK MY ASS! JOHN TRAVOLTA easily his best performance since the Taking of PELHAM 1 2 3 which was an underrated understated masterpiece of MORAL AMBIGUITY!!!!!!!!
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i never laugh. i live and love only for ACTION MOVIES THAT KICK MY ASS! JOHN TRAVOLTA easily his best performance since the Taking of PELHAM 1 2 3 which was an underrated understated masterpiece of MORAL AMBIGUITY!!!!!!!!
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you're a sore loser. You wish you could rock as hard as Besson did in the Messenger. You wish that movie sucked because you hate anything that reaches for the stars! the Messenger makes me remember! and i will never forget!
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of cheerleader movies. citizen kane is. beaks you make me want to jump into the shower with a dude!
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whoa...
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did not write his speech in the third man. that was graham greene's way of saying that Carol Reed is boob.
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man why can't i type? it must be all that mescaline i've been smoking!
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if HARDBOILED had sex with a LADDER 49
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had sex with the WILD BUNCH
seriously, we're beginning to see how sweet this Pierre Morel is. He's like the mad action scientist that makes me do weird things. Admit how much you loved Liam Nesson's character in Taken? That you understood the purpose behind every single one of his kick ass actions? Admit greatness is on the way! Suck it HATERS! -
Could we be witnessing the second coming of "kick ass, chew bubble gum flicks" that have been so badly missing since 9/11. After that it became uncool to waive guns with reckless abandon. The shoot now, ask questions attitude of the 80's and 90's have been sorely missed from action flicks. The two reviews on this site thus far, makes certain that I will be seeing this.
I could care less about Dune, I want to see Morel direct more hard hitting action films.
As far as La Femm Nikita, Beaks, that movie kicks ass! If you want to bag on something, try the sub-par American remake "Point of No Return". -
or the first ten minutes of EXECUTIVE DECISION had sex with the middle thirty minutes of THE ROCK while the last 45 minutes of MEET JOE BLACK videotaped? we're getting closer to understanding the overwhelming insane delicious sexy insanity of FROM PARIS and the man behind the madness, Pierre Morel!
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I'm really glad everyone else is jumping down your throat about your persistent need to qualify reviews with your generally negative opinion of the director's ouvre or something completely irrelevant and always with links to other articles like this is your fucking blog. You are the worst reviewer on this site not because your the actual reviews lack insight, but because you sabotage them with your affected ennui.
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=0- f
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If this keeps getting good reviews I might actually start believing them. I loved Taken...so could the awful trailers be wrong...and this might actually be a decent little action movie? It's on my "to rent" list.
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If this keeps getting good reviews I might actually start believing them. I loved Taken...so could the awful trailers be wrong...and this might actually be a decent little action movie? It's on my "to rent" list.
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I am losing faith in movie reviews here.
Massa is the only one I trust now. -
I guess bald-headed, goateed Travolta is the new look for that good-bad guy terrorist-fighter from swordfish.
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BROKEN ARROW was the performance that defined this amazing complex sly sexy character. The good cool bad guy. when it comes to Travolta accept no substitutes. he is my deal!
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GLEAMING THE CUBE is not.
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is also amazing!
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The last ten minutes of "Meet Joe Black" videotapes? Ah the absurd humor of the insane, I love it.
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Which is why he always brings up the filmmakers' ouevre I suppose.
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Travolta in Broken Arrow was not a good guy but a villain, a traitor. Travolta in Swordfish was another ends-justify-the-means terrorist fighter. This feels like the continuing adventures (or prequel) of that same character.
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Voila!
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...but it sure smells good!
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I thought this would have played much better if it was just a plain old espionage movie in France. Like GOTCHA! or FRANTIC or something. All the slow-mo actiony stuff made it something cartoony, when even if it wasn't ever going to be great it could have been a lot better. I thought Travolta and Meyers had really good chemistry which was great because I'm a longtime fan of both of them. The fact that it reminded you of about 10,000 other movies was a problem especially in the beginning (YEAR OF THE DRAGON, anyone?) but once it got it's own contemporary subject matter then it was okay. I guess I wish it took itself more seriously so that I could have done the same. But it's okay. I actually wished I had popcorn at one point, and I never eat movie popcorn.
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This movie is getting hammered by Rotten Tomatoes. I'll definitely wait for HBO.
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things went down after the kidnapping. Just a forgettable movie altogether. I don't have much hope for From Paris with Love or Dune.
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What a worthless and utterly forgettable peice of crap that flick was. This one both looks and sounds...Crappier.
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Travolta was enjoying himself. I wouldn't say it had anything to say about how to deal with terrorism though. That's really reading something there that you want to see. The movie was a guilty pleasure. Basically, the same story as Wanted. Bored desk jocky gets pulled into the wild and crazy world of assasins and spies. With Travolta playing the Jolie role.
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I'm sorry, but if you think Taken was crap and you comment on AICN then you are full of shit. You can't like commenting on AICN and sincerely like films and think Taken was crap. You might not have enjoyed it, but it wasn't crap. Not to anyone but the kind of people who would never comment on AICN.
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but it could have been a great film if luc hadn't put his latest pussy, leeloo in the role of joan of arc. big mistake. yeah. she was a lot better than anyone thought she would be. but she wasn't good enough for the film. dustin was fucking awesome though. i still love his deconstruction of the sword finding incident.
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He said to me "Vont le gros homme parti!" before getting in his car.I don't know what it means but it was real nice of him to talk to me that day.
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I don't get all the Taken praise either. It was a very forgettable action movie. I wouldn't say it was crap, but I certainly wouldn't say it was good either.
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Theres your verification.
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Reminded me of Commando in the way that Neeson just went overseas and ruined the bad guys' shit, and then came back home. His wife and daughter weren't worth it though, ungrateful slores.
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You certainly do.
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... never comment on AICN." What an absurd thing to say antonphd. What does that even really mean? Is your entire world view made up of hacknied stereotypes of what you think you enderstand obout people? Frickin' weird.
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You do know that Anne Parillaud won the Best Actress Cesar Award for "Nikita", don't you?
I guess we saw a different movie than you did. Nikita came out in '90- most of the glossy Hollywood blockbusters you decry, are shifty imitations of Nikita. You have things exactly backwards. -
Feb 06, 2010 6:39:29 PM CST
"undeniable, pulsatingly gaudy sensibility" - great sentence
by manifestchaos
:)"the undeniable, pulsatingly gaudy sensibility behind last year's TAKEN and this year's FROM PARIS WITH LOVE is Euro-Bruckheimer himself, Luc Besson"
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antonphd, and liked them both. And Taken sucked. No semblance of a nuanced plot, Neeson's character was borderline sociopathic, and the action was no better than Boune. This movie looks worse. Like Taken with an overacting Travolta instead of Neeson. It's all yours, antonphd. Enjoy consuming this crap. Just don't complain when mindless inane action movies like Transformers 3: Curse of the Carpal Tunnel comes out in two years.
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at least you could see it
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Feb 08, 2010 4:35:03 AM CST
TAKEN had better action than Bourne? My ass has better action th
by frye777
Taken=poor mans Bourne. Any person who has a minimal sensibility to cinematography, editing, fight coreography, action directing CAN CLEARLY see Taken is so cheap (with all that stupid, typical French-style zoom-ins and camera optics/angles) compared to Bourne. The 2 can not be mentioned on the same day! BOURNE WINS. Morell sux.
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Mr Beaks you ARE AN empty-headed ass. empty-headed LA FEMME NIKITA???!! back then Besson was great. Nikita has so much honest emotion and deep human drama. it is hardly an action movie. but I guess you just and empty-headed American.
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Feb 08, 2010 4:47:04 AM CST
Thank you! Taken action was much better than Bourne...
by spectrebeeyatch
Taken should have been rated R and it is a poor man's version of Commando... But it was better than the last Bourne movie. Mainly because it actually had bad guys in it not just random spies who got murdered instantly. Also the camera didn't shake constantly. From Paris with Love was simply junk food I laughed my ass off and enjoyed an R rated action flick for once. Good movie? Not really. Great time? Hell yes.
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