There certainly is a love story going on between Hollywood and Paris. I can hardly think about a genre that is not represented in the American cinema and has its setting in Paris – from historical films to romantic comedies, from Hitchcock or Hitchcockian thrillers to love stories, all the genres excepting the western had one or more Eiffel Tower settings. Now, with Pierre Morel’s movie the western was added 🙂
source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179034/
Because what else is this film but a B-Western, where the gunman comes in town apparently with purposes of revenge, in fact with a different mission, yet related to nothing more than the collection and addition of corpses over corpses. As an action or spy story the intrigue is completely not credible, but think at it as a western, and it suddenly works. Producer Luc Besson is in charge again with another movie that looks more American than the most American films despite the fact that it happens in Paris. If you love the genre you have good chances to hugely enjoy this film. If you are indifferent you can sit back, watch the action and the actors and you will enjoy it at least partly. If you hate the genre or you are looking for some art, or even for too much logic, you will hate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvqHcADlhB4
John Travolta enjoys playing the killing machine in this film, we feel this and we enjoy watching him. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, an actor I greatly appreciate for his role in the Tudor series has a much difficult role as the killer apprentice, permanently surprised by the situations he enters, always ready to assume them bravely and even overbid eventually. He does a fine job, and this role confirms that he is one of the front actors of his generation, as he gives life to a schematically drawn character. The rest of the cast does a decent job, and the best one can do after deciding to watch this film is to avoid being judgmental and start enjoying it.