From Paris with Love (2010)

In Paris, a young employee in the office of the US Ambassador hooks up with an American spy looking to stop a terrorist attack in the city.

Director:

Pierre Morel

Writers:

Adi Hasak (screenplay), Luc Besson (story)

Stars:

John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Travolta	...	Charlie Wax
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	James Reece
Kasia Smutniak	...	Caroline
Richard Durden	...	Ambassador Bennington
Bing Yin	...	M. Wong
Amber Rose Revah	...	Nichole
Eric Godon	...	Foreign Minister
François Bredon	...	The Thug
Chems Dahmani	...	Rashid (as Chems Eddine Dahmani)
Sami Darr	...	The Pimp
Julien Hagnery	...	Chinese Punk
Mostéfa Stiti	...	Dir Yasin
Rebecca Dayan	...	Foreign Minister's Aide
Michaël Vander-Meiren	...	Airport Security Official
Didier Constant	...	Customs Official

Storyline

James Reece is an ambitious aide to the U.S. Ambassador in Paris, doing little jobs for the CIA and hoping to get into black ops. On the night he and his girlfriend, Caroline, become engaged, he's told to pick up Charlie Wax at Orly. Charlie is an unorthodox government employee - large, bald and bearded, foul-mouthed and eccentric. Charlie immediately takes James on a wild ride of murder and mayhem, through ethnic enclaves. As bodies pile up, the purpose remains opaque to James. Caroline, unhappy that James has been out of touch for a day, tells him to bring Charlie for dinner. Charlie can be charming - where will it lead? Does the chess-playing James have what it takes?

---

Plot Keywords:

ambassador | terrorist | cia | spy | dinner | 

---

Taglines:

Two agents. One city. No merci.

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Europa Corp. [fr] Official site

Country:

France USA

Language:

English French Mandarin German

Release Date:

5 February 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Iz Pariza s ljubavlju

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$52,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£678,950 (UK) (26 February 2010)

Gross:

£1,715,552 (UK) (12 March 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp, M6 Films, Grive Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX DTS-ES SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Matt Monro, who sang the title song in From Russia with Love is featured briefly on the soundtrack, singing "Close to You".

---

Goofs

In the scene where Reece is watching for drug dealers through binoculars, while wax is in the other room with a hooker, you see Reece looking through the binoculars correctly. Shortly after, Wax takes over while Reece answers the door. Wax can be seen holding the binoculars back-to-front (inverted).

---

Quotes

[first lines]
James Reece: [accepts printout] Thank you, Cindy.
Secretary: Welcome...
James Reece: [reading] African Aid Summit prep meeting with the Foreign Minister tomorrow at noon, Summit Conference on Wednesday, G8 Undersecretary conference dinner on Thursday, and a reception for the Secretary of State Friday, sir.
Ambassador Bennington: Can't you see we have more urgent matters to consider, Reece?
[moves his queen]
James Reece: Of course, sir.
[counter moves his queen]
James Reece: Check.
Ambassador Bennington: Must you always be so methodical?
[...]

---

Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The A-Team/The Karate Kid/Winter's Bone (2010)

---

Soundtracks

"Blowback"
Written by Dan Morrissey
K MUSIK / DED GOOD MUSIC

User Reviews

Just about everything in this has been done before, but still damn entertaining

This movie is basically about two guys going around blowing stuff up in Paris. And the plot of them trying to take down a terrorist organization is just there to move the movie along because, even for films like this there has to be some sort of plot. And everything in this is nothing you haven't seen before with the explosions and gun fights and all, but something about the film just makes it pretty damn entertaining. I mean the plot with the by the book dude teaming up with a loose cannon crazy guy has been done before, but the elements of bad ass and witty and fast paced dialogue and maybe some other stuff makes it really entertaining to watch, even if the twist near the end was pretty predictable as the rest of the movie. Jonathan Rhys Meyers who plays a character that plays by the book was pretty boring and he takes up the first few couple of minutes of the movie, but when John Travolta comes in, well lets just say it's one hell of a ride. He basically plays Charlie Wax, a reckless guy that is a bit crazy but always gets things done. Just turn your brain off and enjoy this movie for what it is, not every film has to be smart to be enjoyable.

7.5/10