I’ll spare you the petty grievances I have with this “spy thriller” such as the title, how the trailers unfairly equate it to Taken (2008), how unmatched the two leads are, how predictable it is. That’s to be expected with a February wide release. But if you’re just the slightest John Travolta fan, or know your Luc Besson films, or watch Spike TV then I think you’ll enjoy the action. And Travolta’s dialogue. Can’t say it’s worth the $10.50 a ticket but if your date says this is the movie they want to take you to, let them. And enjoy the ride.

James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Myers) is Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to France. He does some minor espionage support through the State Department like changing license plates for the guys who do the dangerous missions. He could do his forty hours a week in the office, playing chess with the chief, or futzing around in the parking garage before spending the rest of his time with his beautiful Parisian girlfriend (Kasia Smutniak), but Reece wants more. He gets that chance too when he’s assigned to get Charlie Wax (John Travolta) out of customs. Retrieving Wax from the airport, where customs has confiscated his energy drinks, it’s the first real sense of adventure in the film even though it’s twenty minutes in which I think is way too long before getting an audience to this place in a story. Suddenly, the film is startlingly better upon Travolta’s arrival.

And that’s what films should do, get better as they progress. Travolta’s introduction is a funny one and you immediately get a sense that he’s a no-nonsense-taking American bad ass that doesn’t mind speaking his mind. I had to wonder why they waited so long before getting to his character because the minute they leave the airport Wax has them up to their necks in guns, cocaine, bombs, and a few twists that keep things interesting though at times a bit contrived. It’s classic Luc Besson, French director of The Fifth Element (1997), The Professional (1994), La Femme Nikita (1990), and producer of Taken, The Transporter (2002), Ong-bak (2003), Unleashed (2005), Revolver (2005), and nearly a hundred other projects some of which are successful franchise exports such as The Transporter films.

It’s a smart and simple premise to put Harvard studied office guy Reece into the thick of things with tough, wise cracking Vinnie Barbarino gone Jason Bourne on Red Bull because it creates plenty of opportunities for comedic moments. Most of which Travolta handles well. He’s a professional actor and the guy is good; he knows what he’s doing because he’s been doing it for so long. He’s had high success (Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978)), then extreme lows (Two of a Kind (1983) and Shout (1991)) and then high success again after Pulp Fiction (1994) which this film is nothing like, though they sell it as if it’s a return to that movie character’s form. It is not. But what it is for Travolta is something different, something sort of new, shaving his head and bulking up a bit. It looks like he’s involved pretty closely with many of his stunts, too, which I like. And there are four or five explosions placed sporadically through the film, along with some pretty intense bloodshed that if anything keep you from nodding off.

If there’s one thing Besson knows what to look for in directors and scripts it is the long action sequence that amuses, keeps moving forward with some nifty surprises and doesn’t get bogged down in ridiculousness; everything within one of these long action sequences is quite plausible because the characters are usually established as beings that can bring that kind of heat. Either that or he has a well placed moment of violence in the script to spectacle you out of reality. It’s just the stuff outside of these action scenes that kills that credibility. But it is one action scene in particular from this film, taking place in a Paris ghetto apartment building, lasting for at least twenty minutes, maybe more, that makes this film worth the rental.

As it turns out, Wax and Reece uncover some major foreign developments and a ticking clock is established that forces our heroes to go into overdrive to get to where they need to be before cataclysmic events occur. It’s at this point the film slacks a bit and falls into familiar territory. The ending goes the route of a TV episode, say from 24 (and I know I keep using that reference, but there’s no better example, except maybe from McGuiver). Jonathan Rhys Myers sort of get’s the hero’s monologue, a trademark move usually reserved for someone like Travolta and one which Myers doesn’t deserve in this film (sure, in Match Point (2005) he’s great, but not here). And before you know it, the credit music starts to swell and we fade to black. It all lasts about as long as it takes to finish a tub of popcorn.

Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality. Running time is a short hour and a half. Sure, I’d like the film to be better; I’d like it to be as good as Die Hard (1988) or Goodfellas (1990), but it’s not. Not quite as good as director Pierre Morel’s last film, Taken, either, but I think From Paris With Love will make for a fun movie at home.

Check out the official From Paris With Love website. One of the better movie sites I’ve seen for a film of this calibre.