Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - June, 2010

"From Paris with Love" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by John Johnson

Synopsis

James Reece (Meyers) is a low-level CIA employee stationed in Paris.

CIA operative Charlie Wax (Travolta) shows up, and the office assigns James as his partner.

Going from simple tasks like changing license plates to killing a dozen people in a Chinese restaurant is a bit much for Jimbo, but he learns fast, because he has a good teacher, and most of all, if he makes a mistake, he will be toes up on the morgue dissection table.

Charlie has been sent by the CIA headquarters in the USA to dispatch a cocaine network in Paris, and where drugs are involved, big money is not far behind, and those who deal in it are not shy about using extreme violence to protect their business.

And so, James goes from using a screwdriver to a 44 magnum, in between cell phone calls to his fiancée, Caroline (Smutniak), and trying to carry a vase full of cocaine that will be used as evidence in the case.

 

Commentary

Travolta is terrific as a CIA terminator, and Rhys Meyers takes time off from his portrayal of King Henry in The Tudors, a Showtime HDTV series. If there were not so many exit wounds, James' experiences in the new world of dealing in lead would have been comic relief. In fact, it is a bit much to see Charlie and James run through a room full of gangsters shooting at them with machine guns, and the pair of CIA guys kill all of them without a single injury to themselves.

Technical

Excellent image quality, and the explosions from very big handguns are suitably handled by 24 bit dynamic range of DTS-HD Master Audio.

Extras

These include The Making of, Spies, Spooks, and Special Ops, Secrets of Spy Craft, Friend or Foe, Charlie Wax's Gun Locker, and a digital copy for your Video iPod.

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