| From Paris with Love | |
| Director: | Pierre Morel |
| Producer: | India Osborne |
| Screenplay: | Adi Hasak |
| Starring: | John Travolta Jonathan Rhys Meyers Kasia Smutniak Richard Durden |
| Music: | David Buckley |
| Cinematography: | Michel Abramowicz |
| Editing: | Frédéric Thoraval |
| Studio: | EuropaCorp M6 Eclair Films Canal+ |
| Distributor: | EuropaCorp Distribution |
| Runtime: | 92 minutes |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | English French |
| Budget: | $52 million[1] |
| Gross: | $52,830,951 |
From Paris with Love is a 2010 English-language French action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel and starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The screenplay was co-written by Luc Besson. The film was released in the United States on February 5, 2010 by Lionsgate Films and both in United Kingdom and Japan by Warner Bros. Pictures.
James Reese, a personal aide to the U.S. ambassador in France, lives comfortably in Paris with his girlfriend Caroline, but his real passion is his side job as a low-level operative for the CIA. Due to a shortage of operatives in France, he is eventually partnered with field agent Charlie Wax. However, Reese finds Wax detained by French Customs as Wax refuses to surrender cans of his favorite energy drink. Despite the apparent triviality of the situation, Wax continues to verbally abuse French Customs until Reese uses his diplomatic authority to allow Wax's luggage through customs.
Once in the car, Wax apologizes for his behavior and reveals that the cans actually held pieces of his personal sidearm. Wax then explains that he has been sent to Paris to investigate a Triad drug ring indirectly responsible for the death of the niece of the Secretary of Defense. During the investigation, Wax raids a Triad run restaurant and warehouse where he reveals that his true objective is to trace money back to a circle of Pakistani terrorists. Evidence leads them to the terrorist hideout in a rundown apartment, resulting in an armed confrontation wherein most of the terrorists are killed. There, Wax and Reese learn that the terrorists plan to infiltrate the U.S. embassy with explosives hidden beneath their burkas. As they collect evidence, they find photographs of Reese pinned to a wall.
Ultimately, Reese learns that the terrorists are targeting a summit meeting. During dinner at Reese's apartment, Wax realizes, due to her roommate inadvertently revealing the terrorist's codeword 'Rose' during a phonecall, that Reese's fiancée Caroline is a sleeper agent who was assigned to infiltrate them. Wax shoots the roommate dead, and proves to Reese that the entire apartment was bugged, and that there was a locator transmitter in the ring she gave Reese. When confronted, Caroline shoots Reese in the shoulder and escapes through a window, before a car picks her up on the street below
Caroline plans to detonate an explosive vest at the summit while the other remaining terrorist speeds towards a US motorcade in an attempted suicide attack, although Wax destroys the vehicle with a rocket launcher just in time. Reese then finds Caroline at the summit and attempts to dissuade her from carrying out her mission, but she attempts to detonate her vest anyway and Reese is ultimately forced to kill her, telling her that he loves her one final time before pulling the trigger. As the U.S. official from the motorcade arrives at the summit, she berates Reese for inconveniencing her, and Wax reminds Reese of the often ungrateful and ignorant people they protect.
As Wax leaves Paris, Reese escorts him to his plane, where Wax offers a full-time partnership. Reese tells Wax that he needs to go back to his apartment to take care of some things, but Wax informs him that it's already been dealt with. Wax, knowing the real reason Reese wanted to go back to his apartment, gives him 3 miniature pictures of Reese and Caroline, saying that it's 'something to remember her by'. The two play a game of chess on the tarmac, placing their handguns on a utility cart, Reese revealing that he is now carrying a Desert Eagle pistol, and Wax welcomes him to the club as his partner.
The film has received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 38% with an average score of 4.80/10. The site’s critical consensus states, "Though not without its charms—chief among them John Travolta's endearingly over-the-top performance—From Paris with Love is too muddled and disjointed to satisfy." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it one star out of four, stating, "From Paris With Love has no vital signs at all, just crushing dull repetition that makes one noisy, violent scene play exactly like the last one."[2] A couple of reviews from SBS and Newshub criticised the film for "ludicrous" plot developments and racism.[3] [4]
The film opened in the US on February 5, 2010 and took $8,158,860 on its opening weekend, ranked number 3 in the charts in 2,722 theaters. The movie was open in the US until March 11, 2010, a total of 5 weeks. Its final US domestic gross was $24,077,427.[1] It also grossed $28,753,524 internationally for a worldwide total of $52,830,951- just grossing back its $52m budget. In July 2010 Parade Magazine listed the film as number 4 on its list of "Biggest Box Office Flops of 2010 (So Far)."[5]
The movie was released on DVD in the US on June 8, 2010 and sold 624,791 units for a gross of $11,085,323. It was the third biggest selling DVD in its opening week, behind Alice in Wonderland and Shutter Island, with 293,011 units sold. The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on August 2, 2010.
In an interview with Celebrity Examiner, Luc Besson commented that he would love to see From Paris With Love turn into a franchise with sequels.
Travolta said in an interview with The Star Ledger: "We could do, ‘From London With Love,’ ‘From Prague With Love.’ This is one of the only movies that I would enjoy as a franchise. I’m not a big sequel person, but this one I would love."[6]
As of April 2022, there has been no further information on the proposed sequel.