248. From Paris with Love (2010)

[00:00:38] Welcome to SpyHards - A Spy Movie Podcast, I'm Agent Scott. And I'm Cam the Provocateur. And Scott, do I look like I play board games? Yes. I do. I really do. In every way, shape, and form, I line up with the demographic you'd think of playing board games, you're right. If I was to walk into a games workshop, I would find four of you. What game am I playing is the question. Oh well, a games workshop, you'd be playing Warhammer, but if we're taking it out of that context, do you feel like a...

[00:01:09] Hmm... A battleship kind of guy? Battleship. So you're going basic, you're going right back to like a... Okay. Yeah, like checkers. So I'm not playing like one of those high-end strategy games or something. I mean, you might be, but you'd be losing. I've been out-strategized by the game. You're playing Risk, but you only have like one square and everyone's just walking around you. I'm playing Clue, but I have no clue. Sounds about right for us every week. Mm-hmm. That's very accurate.

[00:01:38] But before we get to this week's episode, we have to talk about last week's episode, Cam. What do we have in our mailbag? Yes. So we talked about Hot Enough for June, which is a bit of an obscure spy film with Dirk Bogard, a comedy take on Hitchcock and maybe early Bond a little bit. Sure. Yeah. So we had some response. We got an email from SpaceOds1985, who says,

[00:02:02] Dear Scott or Cam, an effective enough spy comedy that sadly does overstay its welcome before it picks up in the last 15 or so minutes. Bogard and Koskina are fantastic and look sensational on screen. Shame Koskina never got to be Domino in Thunderball, while Bogard probably bids goodbye to the matinee idol part of his career. I can see why June isn't included on the knock list, just like Gotcha sadly wasn't, a film that has somewhat improved for me second time around.

[00:02:31] Unlike Top Secret, but that's for another time. Yes, yes, yes. Our beloved love of Top Secret lives on. Well, firstly, I'll jump in with corrections, Cam. It's Koskina. Yeah, I knew as I was saying it that it was not right. So don't write in about that, folks. I've already corrected him. And, you know, I agree with SpaceOds take for the most part there.

[00:02:53] I think it is an interesting film. I think it has got some things going for it, but it is just not quite up to snuff with its competitors in the 1960s to make itself anywhere near the knock list, really. It also underlines a key problem, perhaps, with the knock list, which is sense of humor. When it comes to spy comedies, it's going to be, I think, more polarizing than some other films we tackle. Sure. Because it just depends as to what you find funny. A movie I thought was very funny, The In-Laws, you did not find very funny.

[00:03:22] Same with Burn After Reading. It didn't work for me, really. Sure. And those are two movies that I thought were really strong. One of them made the knock list one didn't. Some would say they're brilliant. Some would say I didn't laugh once the whole movie. And so it does actually raise, I think, some difficulties with knock list that maybe won't apply to something a little more broad, perhaps like an Austin Powers film or something. Yeah. But with some of these quirkier ones, definitely more of an issue.

[00:03:48] If there is someone out there that finds central intelligence funny, I've got nothing to say to you. We're pouring one out for you. Seek help. There's worse. What's the Margot Kidder one? Oh, Trenchcoat. Yeah. That's kind of like a David Suchet performance that I found interesting. He was fun. Better than the David Suchet performance in The In-Laws remake. No. Oh, that's very true. That's very true. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:17] Okay. Well, I had another email. It's not about Hodden Up for June, but it's sort of in the spirit of that movie, because that was us pulling out a obscure spy film, somewhat obscure, and I think having a lot of fun telling our audience about it. Sure. I got an email from Elvis Clever, who writes, Hi. I would like to recommend a recent discovery of mine, one of the best and forgotten spy thrillers of the 1950s, The House of Secrets from 1956, directed by Guy Green.

[00:04:46] This is a double-agent story about a guy infiltrating a counterfeiting crime ring. The plot dynamics of the movie is similar to Yojimbo, or A Fistful of Dollars, with the main character having to juggle multiple crime associates to not discover his identity. Also similar to the Bond movie License to Kill, House of Secrets goes right through that list of proto-James Bond spy thrillers, like The Man Who Knew Too Much and North by Northwest, which coincidentally were also movies shot on VistaVision, a large film format.

[00:05:14] Unfortunately, House of Secrets was never released in high definition to be able to appreciate the VistaVision cinematography, but you can find the DVD version on ScreenPix with the alternative title Triple Deception. It's on the Internet Archive as well. So, this I very much appreciate, because it's someone who obviously, we tackle movies like Hot Enough for June, which are obscurities, also available on the Internet Archive as well. But I'm glad that Elvis is kind of picking up the baton there and giving us one,

[00:05:41] available to everyone on Internet Archive, that we can tackle in the future, that's not down the beaten track of Bond and Bourne and what have you. Yeah, I love people writing in with their recommendations, or just inspiration perhaps for us for things to look at. If you have a list of spy movies you think that we should take a look at, write in to us, mail at spyhards.com. I know some people already have written to us in the past, and we've added those films to our master list to tackle. So yeah, any extra intel we can get, we appreciate, because it just means the show lasts longer.

[00:06:12] Exactly, exactly. And one last thing to mention in sort of the mailbag, a funny conversation happened today in the SpyHards WhatsApp group. If you're not part of the WhatsApp group, drop us an email, mail at spyhards.com, and I'll send you the join link. It's basically a group for spy movie fans to talk about spy movies and some things on the side. And this was a conversation about how to tell a spy movie fan, a true spy-hard die-hard from the pretenders out there, the fakes.

[00:06:39] Because we are the premier spy movie podcast, and we have to know who is the cream of the crop here. And one of the members of the group, Mohammed Shakir, said that we should make them take a quiz to act as a shibboleth. Now, shibboleth is a really cool word that I don't hear said very often, but it is a word or a phrase or a custom or a way of speaking that identifies someone as a member of a particular group, or exposes them as an outsider, is the definition online. I once heard it in a TV show, and it was a word that stuck with me. So it was just great to see Mohammed using that word.

[00:07:09] But then the conversation turned to, what would be the questions you would ask someone to find out if they're a true spy-hard die-hard? And we came up with four, thanks to Chris. Would you like to hear them? I would, yeah. I'm intrigued. Okay, number one. Is Condor Man a great piece of cinema? Yeah. Is Never's Never Again an official Bond film? Yeah. Is Licensed to Kill genius? Right, yeah. And is No Time to Die atrocious?

[00:07:36] Oh, okay. Well, those are very... Now, a little bit of that is sorted with Chris's own view, I would say. But I think the first two questions really do stand out as the spy-hard's brand a little bit. Like, if you love Condor Man, and you have time for Never's Never Again, you're in a safe space here. That's true. We just need a Remo Williams question. Oh, yeah. A Remo Williams question. Or a Tartu question. Oh, a Tartu. Yeah, yeah. That's another one. Who is the Mystery Man of the Balkans? Tell us, folks. That's a great one.

[00:08:05] That's the question right there. Who is the Mystery Man of the Balkans? That is... That's the thing you say when, you know, they drop off the mission to Ethan Hunt at the beginning of the film. And he says back, it's Tartu. And you go, oh, there you go. Enjoy your mission, Ethan. Have a good day. And he giggled off and ran away. Yeah. Okay. Well, we found our questions, folks. Thanks for that. And yeah, join the WhatsApp group. Let us know if you want to join. Mail at spyhearts.com. We'll send you the link. And if you want to get involved in these messages before the show, do drop us an email.

[00:08:36] Mail at spyhearts.com. We're always keen to hear your thoughts. But until next time, let's get on with this week's review. Cam, what are we talking about this week? The 2010 action film From Paris with Love, directed by Pierre Morel, the director of Taken, and starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. A name I have forgotten many times, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Yeah. He's one of those actors I'm like, oh, yeah, he exists.

[00:09:04] Well, he was like a big deal earlier on. He was in the Woody Allen film Match Point where that really kind of opened doors for him. Obviously, Mission Impossible 3, this movie. I believe he had some personal problems that caused him to kind of take a break for a while from Hollywood. And I don't know. Like, he was at that kind of crucial point of being a guy in his, I don't know, late 20s. You know, he was very photogenic.

[00:09:34] And it was like he was on the rise. He was showing that he was a good actor as well. So it was kind of like the doors were kind of primed to open for him to be up to that next tier. And then I think maybe personal circumstances let him down. Well, let him to a different career direction. You know, he's still with us all the power to him, I suppose. I wanted to just check while I had a moment because I was in the midst of watching this. My wife walked in.

[00:10:03] Oh, wow, he was. Yeah. She saw him and she said, oh, that's the guy I always think about Bend It Like Beckham with. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's a seminal British football film that even I've seen and I can't stand football. And I don't remember him from that at all. But it's nice to know that he has some resonance here in the UK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's still a working actor. Pops up all the time in, you know, TV or film.

[00:10:29] It's just that it seemed like at one point he was going to be, you know, like a movie star. Like he would be someone you would mention like, you know, a Jude Law or a Chris Hemsworth where the name is just automatically like, okay, that's like a leading man. Well, it's good to know that the two leads of this film has something in common. Well, yes, yes, yes. You know, the John Travolta story is waves galore as he paddles through the ocean.

[00:10:56] I think I asked you about John Travolta's story off air yesterday, and I don't think I've really gotten to the bottom of what happened. I did some digging afterwards of our conversation. I'm still not entirely sure what I don't want to say ended it for him because he just got a standing ovation at Cannes. But I also think some, you know, a turtle eating some lettuce could get a standing ovation at Cannes these days. Yeah.

[00:11:21] Maybe not 16 minutes or 32 minutes, but, you know, that or perhaps man getting hit in groin with football. Sure. George C. Scott. But, yeah, I think John Travolta, it really just comes down to bad choices. You know, I don't know if he was just having the best scripts handed to him, but it just seemed like right when he'd be kind of getting back on top, he would be jumping and doing things like, I don't know, Wild Hogs.

[00:11:50] You know, like these, like, really bad comedies or it's just, like, kind of drags you down in the eyes of the public because they go, well, a lot of his movies are bad. And that's what they attach to it. And yet he would show up in something with, like, a movie like A Civil Action, which is, you know, directed by Steve Zalian, who's, you know, the Oscar winning writer of Schindler's List. Like, prestige film could have been, like, an Oscar movie. Didn't quite connect, but it's still very good. But audiences didn't really care. No.

[00:12:17] And it just feels like, as a whole, his brand got kind of damaged with bad choices, even though he would often try to do interesting things. And it's just, he's a guy who's had a lot of trouble over the entire course of his career with consistency. Haven't we all? Well, well, it's true, you know. Yeah. You harken back to someone earlier saying, you know, in their late 20s, and I can't even remember that anymore. Every day, everything creaks.

[00:12:45] But a man who doesn't creak but has the same sort of hairline as me is John Travolta in this film. And if you've never explored from Paris with Love, and you want to know more, you've made it this far into the episode. You're like, tell me some more about this from Paris with Love. It sounds like a spy film I might watch. Here is your synopsis. And I'll note that I prepared my screen with everything. Notes, all kinds of stuff. But I didn't get the link up. So what I'm doing right now is vamping, Cam.

[00:13:14] Are you familiar with this concept? I think there's a lot of vamping in this movie in the dialogue. So... I think so, too. Very good. I think so, too. And without further ado, here's the synopsis. From Paris with Love. And I had this written down in my notes. This might be my favorite tagline of all time. Oh, okay. There have been some good ones along the way. Especially the Bond movies. This is... I mean... The film isn't excellent. And actually does not deserve this at all. Okay. But...

[00:13:44] Two agents. One city. No mercy. Is that that good? As in... Mercy. French. Oh... Right? Is that how they spelled it? Yeah. M-E-R-C-I. Oh, that's... That is top tier stuff. That is... It's breathtaking. It's truly phenomenal. The marketing team had a great time with that.

[00:14:13] That is up there with the marketing team doing that Suicide Squad trailer set to Bohemian Rhapsody. Uh-huh. Where you're like, this is going to be the greatest movie ever made. And then you see it and you're like, oh my god. What did they do? But that marketing team hit a home run. I think they did with that tagline. Wow. Yeah. That's good. It's phenomenal. I mean, if we're talking like spy equivalencies, I'm sure there are kinds of like Hitchcocks you could pull out for that.

[00:14:37] But the one that always sticks in my memory, again, a great tagline that is not deserving of the film it's attached to, is Central Intelligence. Do you remember that one? No, I don't. I remember the movie, but not the tagline. All you need is a little heart and a big Johnson. That is great. That is great. Yeah. It's like seven years ago we did that film and it's still in the memory banks. I'm not looking at it on the screen. It's just stuck there.

[00:15:06] You know, they say the art of taglines is dead. You know, back in the days when you had just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water or in space. No one can hear you scream. You know what? I think from Paris with love and Central Intelligence proves that that talent, that skill, that art form is still alive and well. The 2010s still had something. Maybe the movie qualities have dipped a bit since those ones I cited as great examples versus, you know, modern great examples.

[00:15:34] You know, these are no you will believe a man can fly quality movies that they're attached to. But, you know, nonetheless. The human adventure has just begun. I mean, what a line. It's there. Do you remember? Okay, here's a fun little. This is a total diversion. But actually, it falls right within this time period of the movie we're talking about. So, it's great. It's still relevant. It's our show. We can talk about what we want. But, yeah, go on. Do you remember the tagline for Star Trek 2009, the J.J. Abrams film? Oh, I should.

[00:16:04] I should. To boldly go. It was The Future Begins. Oh. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And that same summer, you had Terminator Salvation. Do you remember what the tagline to that was? I'm going to guess it's a bookend. So, The Future Ends. Yeah, it was The Future Ends. I mean, they're both Paramount films, right? Ah, no. No. No. I think the Terminator rights were so messy.

[00:16:33] I don't think Paramount put that out. I may be wrong, but I don't think so. Someone needs to put the artwork next to each other and be like, man, 2009 was a weird year. Yeah. I'm just like, mm-hmm. But, you know, I don't like to do these things in episodes, but especially if you're watching the video, you want to comment along. Let us know what's your favorite film tagline or let us know on socials. We'll be talking about it because, I mean, two agents, one city, no mercy is just incredible. That is top tier for sure. That makes the knock list.

[00:17:03] Yeah. The film tagline knock list. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I've really like set the bar now, but here is the actual synopsis itself. James Reese has a good job as an ambassador's aide in France, but his real passion is a side gig working in a minor role in the CIA. He would love to be a fully fledged agent and can't believe his luck when he lands an assignment with Charlie Wax.

[00:17:33] Trigger happy Charlie soon has James crying for his desk job. But when he learns that the same guy they're trying to catch are after him, James realizes that Charlie may be the only hope for survival. Yeah. Did they ever say CIA? Did they ever actually say that? Not at any point. I don't know. Yeah. I didn't pick that up either. I was like debating at points. Like, who is he working for exactly? I mean, it was clearly some black ops stuff. Yeah.

[00:18:02] Like, there's enough spy content in here for us to be satisfied, to be satiated. Oh, 100%. Yeah. But it is on the knife edge. Yeah. It's like they're not specific, which is, you know, this is a EuropaCore film, you know, from producer Luc Besson. And we've tackled a few of these. We did Kiss of the Dragon. And that was the Jet Li film. Movie I quite like. Like, but like that one was very muddy as well about what was.

[00:18:32] Remember, we were like trying to figure out throughout the course of whether it was actually a spy film. Well, I think it transpires that Chinese police are often also spies. Yeah. And so they keep their spies inside their police force or there's a spy division in their police force. And so we were like, I guess. But the movie's also not specifically explaining to you what, like, the Chinese police would be operating like. So you're like, is this a spy movie?

[00:19:01] Is it not? I don't know. And you could argue, I think it's a little more specific, but you could argue Taken's the same thing. At least he was like former CIA. Like, they do say that. Did they say CIA? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But that's the only thing about Taken that's spy. Because otherwise he's just taking down a drug cartel. Which is kind of what they're doing here. Yeah? More or less. Well, no. And so you get to the terrorism stuff at the end. But like two thirds of it is basically Taken.

[00:19:31] Yes. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Man goes on the onslaught in France. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But yeah. I mean, I liked the tagline. I did not like the two paragraphs of that synopsis. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's that stuff like, but he can't believe his luck when he lands an assignment with Charlie Wax. I can also guarantee you the pitch for this movie was not as long as that synopsis. What's the elevator pitch from Paris with Love?

[00:20:01] One crazy agent, one button-down one, and tackling terrorism. Haven't we just described central intelligence again? We've described countless buddy cop slash spy slash action films. Spy Splash also sounds fun. Mermaid. That'd be great. It would be like, man, mermaid, team up to take down crime. Why is a mermaid a cop?

[00:20:28] Are we watching like, is this the follow-up to Bright by any chance? Well, I'm thinking of the movie Splash, of course. Right. Okay. Yeah. Daryl Hannah. Yeah. So that's the, yeah, you've got to call it like a deadly splash. Or something. Splash with danger. Yeah. Something along those lines. Yeah. But as you can tell, folks, we're not screenwriters. No.

[00:20:50] But there was at least a few of you that thought, mermaid and cop team-up action movie, that might lead to some good boat chases. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Someone comes out with a trident from the water and harpoons a guy? Like, okay, I'll take that. There are sharks. Sharks are happening in this movie. Well, we wrote your screenplay recently, or part of your screenplay on the Patreon. So like, we know you need to be in water. It's true. It's true.

[00:21:21] I don't understand. I still, I don't think, I'll know you probably for the rest of my life. And I don't think I'll ever get to the bottom of why you're obsessed with sharks or water. There are dozens of us. Yeah, clearly. Let's get into the story from Paris of Love, because it's, I did a little bit of backstory diving, but I, oh, hold on. First experiences, Scott. It's our show. I should know the order. Thank you, Cam. No, you're quite right.

[00:21:51] First experiences. I often forget because I never really have seen most of the films that we tackle. I had heard of this film and that's about it. Yeah. So you didn't see it at the time. I couldn't see me running out to this. If I, even if I knew it existed at the time. I can't remind me with the movie Taken. Was that a movie you'd run out to see in theaters or did you see it at home? I saw it at home. I think I saw the sequels. Okay. Okay.

[00:22:17] Um, yeah, because like I went and saw this in the theater because it was from the director of Taken and I enjoyed Taken. And so it was like, oh, okay. Well, I mean, I don't know that much about Pierre Morel as an auteur, but he might be someone worth tracking. And this is the follow-up and you're taking another, you know, aging Hollywood icon, John Travolta, plugging him into this director who made Taken, you know, obviously really elevated Liam Neeson. And so I was interested to go and see it. Sure.

[00:22:46] Um, I don't, I don't have the, um, I think grand love of Europa core action films that some do. Um, I find a lot of them just kind of like watchable or sometimes barely watchable trash. And they often look the same too. Like they all have a grungy aesthetic to them. That's like, once you've seen it once, you've kind of got it. Yeah. Like I really liked Kiss of the Dragon, which I mentioned a few minutes ago. Yeah. Uh, Pierre Morel did a district B 13, a movie I really enjoyed as well, which is like the,

[00:23:16] the parkour action film, which was the one that really kicked off the craze. All right. Um, really fun movie. And it's like 80 minutes. It just blazes by totally fun. Um, but the majority of the movies, I can't say I've connected with in any real way, but I went and saw this and I really just was not very impressed. And I remember there was a kind of a thought of like, well, Pierre Morel, there was room at this point for like new action directors to kind of make their print and be like, okay,

[00:23:43] we're going to start to like introduce new talents. The Paul Greengrass approach to action. It's getting older. It's like, okay, you know, let's, let's see something a little different. We've seen it in quantum of solace two years before this movie. Like maybe it's time for something different. And I remember watching this being like, I'm just really tired of watching this type of action. That sort of quick edit, like choppy. Yeah. A bit, a bit, a bit frenetic perhaps. There's no real cause and effect.

[00:24:12] It's all just effect hitting you again and again and again. Yeah. And it just didn't grab me. And I just was like, okay, I don't, this just did not work for me. And it wasn't like the kind of, um, character dynamics were as compelling to me as Liam Neeson. No, I think, I think there is a human element to the first taken film that a lot of people can just tune into. Yeah.

[00:24:37] And understand that compulsion to want to protect one's own, uh, but also to seek vengeance. But, um, that, that doesn't really exist here. There's not a lot of things you can put your shoes into or yourself into the shoes of, I should say, and certainly not Charlie wax. No. So it really was kind of those, watch it, shrug my shoulders, walk out and think to myself, there is zero chance I will ever in my life see this movie again. Aha!

[00:25:06] Cut to, you know, 16 years later. Um, but not a movie I thought about a lot. I think that's entirely fair. I can understand why this one washed over you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. Time changes things a little bit, doesn't it? We'll see. I'm not saying necessarily your thoughts on the film, but it's just interesting. Like the things that we think are perhaps disposable and trashy at the time as filmmaking

[00:25:35] changes, we tend to change our perspective on just a little bit. Like I think we spoke about Chain Reaction, uh, recently and it's not a good film. Yeah. But there's a certain nostalgia to it. You appreciate looking at it nigh on 30 years later. Yeah. Oh, I got way more out of the, um, the bridge sequence in Chain Reaction than I ever would have in 1996. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also, you've evolved in what you look for in films. So, yeah.

[00:26:04] But also, we really, um, didn't appreciate the level of action direction we were getting in the 90s just consistently from, forget James Cameron or Steven Spielberg. Like look at the guys who were just kind of like, and Andrew Davis was someone who was elevated too at the time, especially, uh, with The Fugitive. But I mean more like, think of like a director like Chuck Russell who bounced around. He did things like The Scorpion King in Eraser. But it's like you go and watch the action in Eraser.

[00:26:32] It's better than the majority of the action films you're ever going to see on Netflix. Yeah. And that, that, that is a, it feels like a waste of opportunity sometimes, especially when these days we almost feel like replete with talent. We have, we have talent coming out of our ears. Yeah. There's so many good actors out there. So many good cinematographers and editors and all these sorts of things. And then we served up this tray of beige, which is a good way of describing my physical features. But, um, yeah, it, it just, uh, it's a shame.

[00:27:02] Yeah. Especially with the budgets they get now too. Like you think, I don't know how much this film was made for. You're going to tell me shortly, but I imagine if you chucked another $50 million at it, it wouldn't help. I'll just tell you this movie cost, um, I think, uh, 52 million. Yeah. I don't think making it a hundred would have done much. No, I don't think so. I think we've, uh, it's been proven time and time again that money does not equal better action. No, no, it does not. But let's, let's get into it, Cam. Take me to the arrondissement.

[00:27:32] Take me around the lovely, gorgeous streets of Paris. Well, I mean, as I said, this is a Europa core movie, so it has a story credit from Luc Besson, as is typically the case for all the movies he produces. I feel like this man pretty much just writes down a few notes on a napkin and is like, here, go make this movie. Um, like, I'd be very curious to know what the story that he offers actually is. Who knows? Maybe it's great.

[00:27:59] Maybe he's actually does sit down and brainstorm ideas, but he does them so often that you start to get suspicious. Yeah. Yeah. He was, like, credited on one recently. Yeah. We've done a lot of movies that had, you know, story credits from Luc Besson. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'll save my comments on Luc Besson for another episode. Yeah. Yeah. So he's a French producer, director, and writer, and got his start in, uh, 1981.

[00:28:27] He did a post-apocalyptic short called The Penultimate that he sort of fleshed out in 83 into an action drama called The Last Battle. But where he made his name truly was, uh, the one-two punch in 88, um, and the following year with, um, the free diving drama, The Big Blue and La Femme Nikita, the Hitwoman film. And those were kind of like the, this guy has arrived. He has a unique vision.

[00:28:55] What could the future hold? And he would go on and write and direct Leon, The Professional, The Fifth Element. But he was also, like, dabbling in writing a lot of action films and producing a lot of action films. So you get, like, the Taxi series, which are popular overseas, not here. Um, but there's, like, Taxi 4 or 5, I think, at this point. Uh, Kiss of the Dragon, The Transporter films, District B-13, 1 and 2, Unleashed with Jet

[00:29:24] Lee, also known as, um, I think, Danny the Dog, uh, the Taken series. And for Luc Besson, this was his follow-up to, um, writing and directing the family film Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard, a series that he has overseen for a while now. Again, popular over there, not popular here in North America. Sort of like Asterix and Obelix, or whatever it is, like a very French thing. I'll get back to actually that franchise in a little bit.

[00:29:52] But yeah, so like, Luc Besson is kind of this cottage industry of, occasionally he directs like a big budget kind of visionary movie. Like, I think of like Valerian, um, which he did, you know, a handful of years ago. That was him? That was him. And it was like him really like investing a huge amount of money and ambition into a movie I thought was pretty messy. Yeah. But it also had sequences that were unbelievable.

[00:30:15] But he kind of like balances like these kind of big swings, um, with stuff that's just like these relatively cheap action films that he could just crank out a few a year. I mean, if that's what your comfort zone is, it makes sense. Yeah. So I found a quote from him that I loved. This is maybe one of my all-time quotes. Great. Um, of what inspired his approach to coming up with the concept of this film and, you

[00:30:44] know, his, uh, you know, what drove kind of the idea to produce this film as well. He said he was inspired by listening to rap music and eating sushi. Okay. I have no idea what that means. I think the rap music thing is a little bit of John Travolta's character. Yeah. There's definitely this kind of, I don't know how to describe it, but like, you can picture him being a guy who watched a lot of like rap videos.

[00:31:14] I could see that. Or he's one of those people that like, um, imprints his personality on the last thing he just watched. So he's just finished watching The Wire or something like that. Sure. And he's just like, I'm just going to talk. Yeah. Complete gibberish at times. Yeah. The sushi thing, I don't know because this movie follows like a Chinese drug cartel, but... Well, you know, when you eat too much sushi, you get a bit of a stomachache and can get quite lightheaded.

[00:31:40] I think his general idea was he wanted to embrace, I think, what he was trying to say. Because he does kind of go on from there. It's messy though. And it seems like there's some sort of like multicultural approach he's looking at bringing, where it's kind of like a merging of all these different cultures into one project. I don't think it's well handled. Wu-Tang and that sort of thing.

[00:32:04] Like, you know, you look at this movie, you've got obviously the Chinese element, the Pakistani element, the French, the Americans. I guess it's kind of this melting pot idea, I guess, but I don't think it's particularly coherent. He was too busy asking himself if he could and never concerned himself whether he should. He shouldn't. He definitely shouldn't. Put the sushi down, Luke.

[00:32:34] Put it down. I don't think this movie plays particularly nicely with certain demographics. There's a particular segment that I like. I'll talk about now because it made me laugh. Yeah. So John Travolta's character has just shot this other girl. Yeah. Yeah. And like, I think it says she's from Pakistan and uses that in an accusatory way. But it does have proof that she is a spy from a code word that she used. Yes.

[00:33:02] But it really gave me, like, vibrations of that scene for one of the Has Fallen films where Gerard Butler tells a guy to go back to wherever the fuck he stands or whatever it is. Like, yeah. It's pretty awful. It's F-Hedistan, I believe, without the F filling in those gaps. Yeah. I definitely thought of that watching this movie. It has that post-9-11 action movie kind of attitude that you're like...

[00:33:31] Hugely jingoistic and just like, okay. I get what you're going for and it's kind of of its time. Actually a bit late, if anything, because it's 2010. Yeah. But it's still... As much as, like, everything is proved to be correct, they are proved to be terrorists. She has a suicide bomb, yadda yadda yadda. There's still a little bit of you watching it and you go... Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:56] And it's like, I saw one critic very, I thought, playfully saying that, like, is this movie like a send-up of American jingoism? Because it's made by a French filmmaker. Uh-huh. Like, is that the approach? Or is it just... Is it the Team America version of Taken? Like, is that what we're doing? Yeah. Or is it just a grotesque film that we're looking for meaning in? We don't know. We don't know. Just, just, I'm not going to tell you folks. I'm not going to tell you what to do. I'm not going to lead your opinions.

[00:34:23] You know, look up Luc Besson. So the screenplay... Maybe that'll lead your opinion. Who knows? The screenplay is by Netherlands-born journalist, come writer, Addy Hasek, who's also a producer, actually. Got his start with the 1997 Charlie Sheen thriller, The Shadow Conspiracy, which I think was, to the best of my memory, was kind of the other White House conspiracy movie that came out around the time of Murder at 1600 with Wesley Snipes.

[00:34:53] And he did some uncredited work on 2007's 30 Days of Night. Right. And that leads into doing this movie. He's, at this point, didn't have a huge filmography at all. Probably doing punch-up assignments. Probably journalism in between Shadow Conspiracy and getting more seriously into screenwriting with, you know, 30 Days of Night in this film. Sure.

[00:35:23] And he also created the Jennifer Lopez TV series Shades of Blue. And he's done a lot of TV work in recent years, creating various series. What on earth is Shades of Blue? I don't know, but it ran for a couple seasons. People seemed to actually like it, but I wasn't aware of it at all. So Jennifer Lopez made a TV show? Yeah. I don't know. No idea. There's so much TV out there. Who knows? That's true. Yeah.

[00:35:51] So the director we talked about him, Pierre Morel, and he began in the camera departments of French TV and film in the early 80s. And was just doing a lot of, you know, random film TV work. One of his fun credits I found was in 1993, he was a camera operator on Disney sing-along songs. Let's go Disneyland Paris!

[00:36:13] Which would have been one of those VHS releases where they basically sell parents on VHS tapes of Disney songs they already own in the films they came from. Gotcha. And if you're watching the YouTube version, here's the clip. I hope that was worth it, folks. He was also doing cinematography gigs mixed with Steadicam operator gigs for quite a while.

[00:36:37] But the key one that kind of sets his career path was in 1999, he's the Steadicam operator on The Messenger, the story of Joan of Arc, directed by Luc Besson. And that's what sort of forges that relationship. And he would become a cinematographer on The Transporter. And then in 2004, he directs District B-13 for Luc Besson. He does Taken. And this is his follow-up to Taken.

[00:37:02] Around the time of this movie, and I don't remember if it was just before or just after, he was attached to do Dune. And for quite a while, Pierre Morel was actually the guy who was going to be spearheading Dune as a cinematic property. Obviously didn't happen. Two things. One. Yes. Yes. Didn't Joan of Arc die quite young? Yes, she did. Interesting project for you there, Luke. Oh, yes. It was starring Milo Jovovich, who was very young at the time. And that's when he actually got together with Milo Jovovich, and they were together for a few years.

[00:37:37] I'm leaving all of that silence in the episode. People, check out our episode on The Professional for more context. And we were polite in that one. I'm less polite these days. We danced around those landmines. We danced. God. God. We had a guest on who was a bit less impressed, perhaps, with not so much the film, but the guy's history. Yeah. I have less restrictions these days. But I urge you all to do your own research.

[00:38:08] Right. And Pierre Morel, who seems to be... Wait, I had a second point about Joan of Arc. I had a second point. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I've forgotten it. So that was really useful that I interrupted you. Okay, great. Well, if you get a message from the movie of Joan of Arc popping into your head, let me know. It's coming to me. Okay. But Pierre Morel, after this movie, he kind of went down this road a few times because he teamed up with Sean Penn to do the movie The Gunman.

[00:38:37] He got together with Jennifer Garner to do Peppermint. These were not movies that really connected. They were the same kinds of ideas. They were just kind of like revenge action films, you know, 90 minutes long. So iterations on a theme, basically. Yeah, Peppermint was more of a death wish kind of thing. Okay. But they didn't connect. And he's still out there doing stuff, mostly, I think, straight to streaming.

[00:38:59] He's not followed up on, I think, a lot of the buzz that was happening around Taken of, like, this guy could be one of the next big ones. And has never replied to a single email. Thanks, Pierre. No. Well, you know. Now, Pierre Morel was actually drawn to this project by a desire he had post-Taken to mash up, like, the action of Taken with comedy. And so he wanted to do something more playful. Okay.

[00:39:33] I just... I need to comment on that a little bit. I just think... Maybe it's just, like, a nation's thing. Like, our comedy in Britain is quite unique. Yep. North America has its own form of comedy. Canada doesn't really have any. That's 100% not true, considering that most of the Canadian comics are the popular American comics these days. I mean, Saturday Night Live is still running. What happened to your show?

[00:40:04] SCTV? Yeah. That's from the past. Canadian... Well, there's a reason. All the Canadian comics go to the US, because Canada's not sustainable for them to stay in. You just got triggered, Cam. It's true, though. Our entertainment industry... You know, we do... We just recently had Nirvana the Band, the movie, which is, like... I'm going to say my favorite movie of the year, and easily the funniest movie of the year. But it doesn't have the distribution strength to make that movie any sort of real phenomenon.

[00:40:31] It's getting plays here in August. Yeah. Right. So... I'm going to go and see it, based on what you've said about it. But, like... I don't have any ties to the show. I will say... I have seen... No one does, by the way. The show is very obscure. Okay, fine. I will say, though, it is... I've watched what as many would refer to as Canada's funniest film, and I'm really struggling with it. What's that? Strange Brew. Oh, I mean, that's more of a cult thing.

[00:41:00] I don't think that's Canada's favorite comedy. Okay. But, like... I mean, most of what Canadian comedy is... You've really set me down a spiral here. But it is all these comedic actors we look at who have all just gone, you know, to the US and become stars, you know? Well, because, unfortunately, sometimes you guys do get, like, smushed together as North America. We do. So they're obviously going down there for opportunities, because that's where Hollywood is. But, like, I guess you could say that Austin Powers... Yeah.

[00:41:29] ...is a Canadian comedy. Mike Myers. You've got, you know, Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, John Candy, you know, Dan Aykroyd. It's like, all these people come from Canada, but I don't think people think of them as Canadians. No. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Yeah. It is what it is. I'm glad we came out in defense of what you did of Canadian comedy. But getting back to what you said, though, like, I do think...

[00:41:55] Because one thing that I noted in this and a few other EuropaCore movies that are more comedic, it's incredibly, like, in-your-face comedy. Yeah. With no subtlety. And, like, for me, it just plays like nothing. I'm just staring at it going, okay. But, like, maybe that delivery is something that appeals more to people from France. I have no idea. I don't profess to know. Them and their baguettes were rolling down the aisles.

[00:42:22] Well, every country's comedy is still completely different, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I said the point because I believe it. Like, there are... I'm sure people that find John Travolta's portrayal of an American spy in this, which is very over-the-top, very larger-than-life. I'm not sure there is a saying that's larger-than-larger-than-life, but whatever that is, he's playing that. And maybe that is, like, heroin.

[00:42:49] Crack into the veins of French people. Maybe. Maybe. Speak up, French people, and let us know your thoughts on From Paris With Love. Did it make you laugh? We want to know. But... We. John Travolta was actually a big kind of influence on Pierre Morel. He said he wanted to choreograph the action in a very swinging, dancing sort of way, inspired by Travolta's work in Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, and what have you.

[00:43:19] Grease, et cetera. Grease as well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there is sort of a... I mean, I do, in my notes, use the word balletic. Like, I guess. I would say that usually, like, dance sequences are shots where you see the people performing. They're not cut to shreds. Well, like, there's that sequence in... I mean, do you remember Argyle? Yeah. A lot of people forgot Argyle. Sure. There's a couple of scenes of them dance shooting, and it kind of feels like that. Which a lot of...

[00:43:48] And a lot of what this film seems to be referencing is, like, Hong Kong action. John Woo, big time. Yeah. And if you want to see a John Travolta, John Woo film, I've got a better one for you. Oh, Face Off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great film. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, Morrell directed Travolta. He had a lot of interest in specifically the Travolta performance. So, he directed him to perform takes that varied wildly.

[00:44:17] So, he would want John Travolta to just do everything he could even think of in takes. Like, do one where you're serious. Do one where you are screaming at the rafters. Because his idea was he wanted to create the character in the editing room. That was the concept for the Charlie Wax character. Oh, boy. Okay. He said... He called this the Chinese menu approach. That's from John Travolta. That was a quote from him on the press tour. Because it's kind of like, I'll have one of everything. Sort of approach. It's from the top down, isn't it?

[00:44:47] This whole problem is just from the top down. And John Travolta said he got this idea from Meryl Streep. Who frequently likes to do this as well. Is she also racist? Misguided. Clearly misguided. I don't know if that term comes from Meryl Streep. But the idea of kind of giving a director... Very different types of takes. To kind of aid with their journey in the editing room. I mean, I guess...

[00:45:16] If you just want this sort of... Grab bag. Sure. But if you don't repeat yourself... You lose a lot of nuance. Yeah. So you've just got like one take of being serious. And then you realize this scene actually needs to be serious. All you've got is the one. Well, no, no. He would do multiple takes of one scene. No, I know. But say I did the same scene ten times. And one of them was sincere. Yeah. And then you realize in the editing room... That sincere was the tone you want.

[00:45:46] But you've only got one take of sincere. Yeah. Not like ten takes that you would usually have on a film of sincere. Because that's the tone you would usually have. And in those ten... You would either piece together a fantastic scene. Or find the one where the energy was correct. Right. Yeah. Like... It's an interesting idea. Like I'm sure there's been experiences where that has worked like gangbusters. Meryl Streep has a pretty good track record, but... Sure. It just feels like student filmmaking. Yeah.

[00:46:15] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um... The look for John Travolta was inspired by Soldiers of Fortune magazine. You. Where John Travolta said he would look at these covers and see they'd be wearing like scarves with shave heads and goatees and look very like... Almost like fashion models in their own way. And that's what he was trying to evoke. I should have worn a scarf, shouldn't I? I would love to know, though, on the covers of Soldier of Fortune magazine, how many of these cover models are John Travolta's age? At that time?

[00:46:45] Probably not. They're probably in their mid-20s, 30s, not 50-odd. Like that dyed goatee is very distracting. It really is. I mean, he's got chills, but that's because of his age. And they were multiplying on my end of the equation. And he's losing control. Oh. So, I'm going to leave one note just to the end. But like, the budget for this movie was 52 million. Domestically, it did 24.1.

[00:47:15] International, 28.8. For a worldwide total of 52.9. So this was not a hit. No, but like, if you adjust that for inflation, is it beating Supergirl right now? No, I don't think so. Okay. How much is Supergirl made for, though? Well, a lot more. So, yeah. But it wasn't a train wreck, though. No, no, no. And I'm sure this is also like, this is the tail end of the DVD lifespan.

[00:47:44] So there's still, I imagine it probably made its money back on home video. I'm sure it did fine. But it's just a case where they go, okay, one and done. Crank out the next 10 EuropaCore action films. Yeah, because they do sort of lean into a sequel at the end. They do. I'll get to that in a second. So this was number 110 at the worldwide box office between Little White Lies, which was a French Marion Cotillard comedy drama.

[00:48:12] And the Chinese fantasy action franchise launch, Detective D, Mystery of the Phantom Flame, which would spawn many more films. And it was directed by Tsui Hark, one of the great Hong Kong action directors who did Once Upon a Time in China. He did the Jackie Chan film, Twin Dragons. And he did a little movie in North America called Double Team, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman. Coming soon to this show? Maybe. There's a reason Tsui Hark didn't stick around Hollywood too long. Let's just say that.

[00:48:40] But the top three for the year, number one, Toy Story 3, number two, Alice in Wonderland, and number three, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. You've got two good films there. Kind of one, you know, in the middle that's not great. Was that Alice in Wonderland, the one with Zach Braff in it, with James Franco? No, you're thinking of Oz the Great and Powerful. Ah, which one's this one? This is the Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland. Oh, yeah.

[00:49:10] It really benefited from that post-Avatar 3D boom. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't very good. And the sequel was unwatchable. Did you see it? Nor was Oz the Great and the Powerful. No, that one had some Sam Raimi-esque stuff that was kind of fun, but it's pretty messy too. I saw that in theatrics, can you believe? So did I. So did I. Oh, boy. No, but I never saw this other Alice in Wonderland or the sequel. Mm-hmm.

[00:49:36] The sequel's dire, dire punishing stuff to get through. So, yeah. So, John Travolta on the press tour was very enthusiastic about this being the start of a franchise. You were saying about sequels. He said, 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. And Luc Besson actually echoed the same thing, that he was hoping to do more of these.

[00:50:06] I mean, who on the press tour would say they wouldn't? Well, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I can see, like, we're living in this time period. We're living in a world where you have, like, Olympus has fallen. Yeah. I think it's around this time. And then you have X has fallen. So having from X with love is perfectly reasonable. I mean, in another world, I could see this getting a sequel. Oh, 100%. Yeah, like, this could be, like, the taxi or the transporter franchise, where every couple

[00:50:35] years you do another one, or every year even. Like, why not? They're cheap to make and probably very quick to film. Although, 52 million is actually, I feel like, a little more expensive. I feel like that's, like, 10 for John, though. Probably, yeah. So that's, and then Reese is, like, 5. No, no way. He's less. 3. Maybe 2. 3, 2. Yeah, but then that goes up in the sequel. Sure. Yeah, but there's a world where I can see this happening.

[00:51:02] I think, literally, it's just that lack of box office that held it back, because there's enough on the page where you could easily, like, I could pull a spy sequel out of my ass for this film. Yeah. And I do have kind of a very, very serious note to end on. And I know we're going to have, like, a lot of laughs in the episode, but this was something that was all over the press tour and talked about a lot. Okay. Which was, this was filmed very shortly after, I believe. The loss of John Travolta's son, Jet, who died at the age of 16 after he had a condition

[00:51:32] where he had a lot of seizures. It wasn't epilepsy. It was a disease. I can't remember the name of it. But he died while they were on vacation in the Bahamas on January 2nd, 2009. And so he would have been rolling into this movie to film it pretty shortly after. So, like, if you go and, you know, look up interviews from the press tour, it is actually a lot of reporters reaching out and just asking how John's doing at the time. Right. So, like, there's a lot of processing.

[00:51:59] And there's, like, a scene in this where they go to the Eiffel Tower. And right behind Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is John Travolta's then wife when she was alive. She passed a few years ago, Kelly Preston, who's sitting there with John Travolta's daughter as well. So I think there was even, like, a kind of, like, family vacation aspect to the shoot for this movie. Okay. Like getting away from it. Yeah. It's serious stuff to bring up, but it was so kind of tied into a lot of what was being talked about

[00:52:27] with this movie at the time that I felt like you couldn't really avoid it. Even though we're going to have yucks, we're going to laugh about this absurd action movie. But, you know, the actor who's at the core of it was, I think, going through a very, very difficult time. I mean, listen, no one wishes that upon, frankly, anyone. And I just looked it up. I mean, John Travolta's son, by looks of it, suffered from severe autism and suffered through seizures for the kids' entire life. And that's what ended his life, unfortunately, in the end. And, yes, we're going to have some jokes.

[00:52:57] But, yeah, as I say, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. You can have your opinions on John Travolta. That's absolutely fine. And I know that this show has to have some laughs in it and it absolutely will. But, ultimately, you all know through years of listening or watching that Cam and I respect anyone that steps in front of a camera and makes a film. Because it's a hell of an act to do in the first place. And for someone like John to be doing it for 50, 60, 50 odd years, I guess, at this point now. Maybe 40 years or something. Like, all the power to him.

[00:53:27] And, yeah, we take the mickey because we love the idea of films. We love spy movies so much that we can lampoon them. But, yeah, all the power to John. Yeah, and, I mean, we've definitely tackled tragedies in the past as well with movies. We talked about where we had a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, Trenchcoat was one of them. Trenchcoat. But, you know, like, we had to have some serious talks when we did Leon the Professional as well. It does happen time to time when you have these productions that go for extended periods of time. Sometimes life events happen that you kind of have to point out.

[00:53:57] So that's the case. So we'll just kind of mention that here. But we'll move on to kind of the absurdities of From Paris with Love. I think so, too. Well, I've got chills. They're multiplying. I'm losing control. Let's talk about From Paris with Love. I'll take this one. Yeah, go for it. I'll take the floor. The Saturday Night Fever floor. I'll be wearing my flares. Did you know who owned the white suit from Saturday Night Fever for many, many years? As in after the film? Yeah. No.

[00:54:27] It was actually Gene Siskel. He bought it. It was like his prized possession. Did he have, like, a mannequin in his house somewhere? I think he did. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you're watching the video version, there's a picture of it. Congrats. You've seen it. Do you know what? We've already chucked some jokes away from From Paris with Love. We've said things about its tone. We've said things about some of the performances. We've said some things about all kinds of things in this film.

[00:54:57] The racial politics that are... The racial politics. Yeah. Jesus. Is it as thrilling as, you know, a Bond film or something like Three Days of the Condor? No. It isn't. Does it have as good an action sequence as something like Mission Impossible Fallout? Nope. Is it really particularly remarkable in any way whatsoever? No. But did I have fun for 90 minutes?

[00:55:27] Yeah. I kind of did. I think this is exactly the sort of disposable popcorn trash that if you're in the mood for, and I think I need to preface with that, will absolutely work for you. If you just want to switch my brain off, watch two guys go around shooting up some terrorists type of film, and that is a genre, really, in itself, this is an interesting one to do. The characters are unhinged. They don't spend any time dealing with anyone's backstory.

[00:55:56] They don't care. They're too busy going on to the next plot point and blowing other people up, and that's absolutely fine. Not every film has to be The Odyssey or Oppenheimer. Well, let's not say this has to be The Odyssey for God's sake. No, but I'm saying everything has to be this dark character piece, introspective and fleshing out people's motivations and what's driving their characters. This is just, this is a cookie cutter, silly action film,

[00:56:25] and if you're in the right frame of mind, you will absolutely have a fun time with Comparison of Love. I'm not a fan of this one. Okay. To me, this feels like something where there was this desire to make it very propulsive, and so they just slashed out anything that's any interest to me. You say character motivation. There's no character, really. It's just like, okay, I'm supposed to buy into this buddy dynamic,

[00:56:54] and I love a movie like Lethal Weapon or some of the Shane Black films, Long Kiss Goodnight. It's like, give me a dynamic that I enjoy, and it's just more obnoxious here. It's just characters yelling at each other for like 85 minutes. Even the storytelling is just hacked to shreds. Like, I can't even really tell you in detail the connections between the Chinese drug smuggling ring and the terrorist group that's at the heart of this. I don't think the film tells you.

[00:57:22] I think the film just sort of leads you from one thing to the other. Yeah. And so it's just kind of this bombardment, and I can get behind that in one sense. I think the goal is that they want this to be a propulsive film. They want this to be something akin to like Jason Statham's crank, where it's like, you know, strap yourself in for the next 85 minutes, you're going to go on a thrill ride. Yeah. But I don't feel like this is. I feel like it's very lurching, and I look at a movie like Taken,

[00:57:52] similar runtime, Pierre Morel made that. I feel like that movie's way more propulsive and feels like a bullet. I will just reaffirm. I said I had a fun time with it. I didn't say it was better than Taken. I didn't say it was better than any of the things you mentioned. I think this is just disposable enjoyment, and I don't think I was looking for the background that you've got in something like Taken.

[00:58:20] And having that background in Taken and saying about the daughter being captured gives you a grounding for the choices and motivations of the character. It means you understand it more. You buy into the story. And yes, all of the plot was hacked out. There's nothing there. It's just action sequence, action sequence. But that is also fine. I would say, okay, so like I'm going to bring up a movie you haven't seen. Unfortunately, you should check it out. You'd enjoy it. But District B13. Okay. Which Pierre Morel made.

[00:58:47] And that movie is also stripped pretty bare of character. But that is a movie that's showing you action unlike things you've ever seen before. Which is the same for Crank, I would say. I would say too. Crank is shot really interestingly. If you've never seen Crank, folks, I'd say actually go and check it out. It's complete like schlock. Yeah. But it's well-made schlock. Well, those two directors, Neville, Dean and Taylor, were insane. They would be doing a lot of like directing while they were on rollerblades and things like that.

[00:59:15] And Crank is kind of their masterpiece, I think. Because a lot of their other films were like pretty much unwatchable. But that one turned out pretty good. And I think like B13, it's like incredibly propulsive. It's 80 minutes long. And you are just barreling through. And at that time, I know parkour is kind of a joke to say now. But at that point in time, it was like, what is this? Like it felt like original. How like quickly that thing dropped off. And you can chart it back to exactly when parkour died.

[00:59:46] Okay. So like you obviously have 2006 Casino Royale. That's a huge sequence people love. There's a moment I can think of that was definitely kind of acknowledgement that it was over. But what's the moment you're thinking of? It's when The Office did an opening sketch about parkour. Okay. Do you remember what year that was? I can find out. I'll tell you my point that jumps to my mind. And it was not a movie that was that popular. But in the movie Punisher Warzone, there's a sequence where they introduce a parkour character

[01:00:15] who immediately goes into like this, you know, very stylized bit of, you know, free running. And immediately gets shot with like a rocket launcher and explodes. Right. And it was kind of like the filmmaker being like, this is stupid. And I'm going to like make a joke of this in this moment. And I feel like at that point, when you're just being ridiculed in a questionable Punisher sequel, it was done. That's fair enough. I'm just looking it up. The parkour episode came out in September 2009.

[01:00:45] So it is that time period, 8, 9, where they're like, this is a joke. Yeah. When you're doing the Austin Powers version of it, there is an acknowledgement that we've gone too far. Yeah. But yeah, District B13, it was like showing me things I'd never really seen before. And so I was like forgiving of the fact that like the characters were cardboard stand-ups. But like a movie like this, a big part of the problem for me is the action is not impressive at all. I don't disagree with you.

[01:01:14] Almost a single time. Yeah. And so it's like, okay, what am I hanging on to? Like what's my takeaway? I can definitely agree with you. We have watched things that were far more taxing to sit down and watch. This is 85 minutes. It blows by more or less. We've watched some things that were, you know, go back to something like Little Drummer Girl with Diane Keaton, where you're like, oh boy, this is a journey, folks. It's just like I can be far more forgiving if the film has a good pace. Yeah.

[01:01:44] And is just going set piece, set piece, set piece, set piece. Don't think about it. Set piece, set piece, set piece. I'm far more able to let you off not having all this stuff I come to, I expect really, from a film when you do that. But if this was two hours long, this would be a very different review from me. Well, it's also like a movie that's almost review proof because if you don't like it, they're like, what does it matter? It's an 80 minute action movie. Sure. And you're like, yeah, I can't argue.

[01:02:11] It has no aspirations to really be anything particularly special. Which on one side of things, fair enough. The other side is a shame. Yeah. Especially when you're coming off the back of Taken. And you shouldn't necessarily always be compared to what you did before. But it's an inevitability in any line of work. And so you put out Taken, which is a film that manages to be sort of cross-generational.

[01:02:38] Almost, I wouldn't say four quadrant, but like it had a lot of like pop culture penetration. It really, really made a name for itself. And then you do this. And I don't even think your aim was to have a film the same level as Taken. Now, I know when they were making Taken that they didn't think they were making Taken. Yeah. Like they had no idea the cultural relevancy that film would go on to have. No.

[01:03:05] But, but, I think they were still trying for something. Whereas I don't necessarily think they're trying for anything here other than let's just make a 90 minute action film with John Travolta. Well, I think like, you know, when I was going into the behind the scenes, a big part of the focus as to the reason to make this was John Travolta. As in just being available. They had him and like, right, let's do it. But like, let's build this project around him. The fact that they're talking about choreographing the action as an homage to his dance routines.

[01:03:31] It's like, okay, clearly they want to mold this in the same way that like Taken worked for Liam Neeson. Sure. And grabbed audiences for that specific reason. But, I mean, I think we can get to it later. But like, I do think like just audiences have a different relationship with John Travolta than they do with Liam Neeson. Like there was a novelty to seeing someone who's usually very dramatic and has a lot of gravitas being tossed in a kind of trashy action movie.

[01:03:58] Versus like John Travolta, who we've seen in movies like Broken Arrow and Face Off. The audience, I think, I don't know what the audience's relationship with him is. He's always been kind of a, we were talking about his career path. But I feel like in some ways he's a very tough actor to pin down. You know, you look at like Tom Hanks, who's one of his contemporaries. And that's kind of like America's dad. Right. Or, you know, everyone, the world's dad, the way he portrays his characters and is loved. Yeah. He's kind of, he's our Jimmy Stewart.

[01:04:28] I don't know, George Clooney often falls into the Cary Grant mold. And he's definitely, I think, tried to model himself in a lot of ways on that. I don't really know what John Travolta is. He has a little bit of the Gene Kelly dancing skills. Yeah. You know, like the magic of seeing him dance. Audiences like to watch that. But as a movie star, it often feels like he doesn't quite know. So he kind of bounces all over the place.

[01:04:53] Well, it's always felt like someone who's trying to get out from their own shadow, in a sense. Like, I know John Travolta as Grease and Saturday Night Fever. And Pulp Fiction, right? And less so. Okay. I acknowledge Pulp Fiction. It's a film I've seen multiple times. But it isn't one I go back to. It's not one I often think about. I think about Grease and Saturday Night Fever. Grease more often than one anything else.

[01:05:23] So my image of John Travolta is of an active dancer. Yeah. So when I see him in stuff like this, or I see him in Pulp Fiction, or a film I watched a couple of years ago for the show, The Experts. Yeah. You know, like it doesn't quite fit. But at least in The Experts, he's playing like a late mid-twenties guy in a dance hall that happens to be doing spy stuff. Like, so there's like a connectivity thing. You can go, okay, well, there's the Venn diagram of spy movie and dance movie crossing over.

[01:05:52] But here it's just like, well, a lot of actors like to play against type. I often think of someone like Patrick Stewart. Yeah. Who seems to think he's very good at comedy. Yeah. Well, he can be when it's character based. Like on Star Trek, he's often incredible. Yeah. In like comedic moments. In the right moment.

[01:06:17] But like, because that's almost, he's able to find that little nugget of comedy in a scene. That's fine. But when he's doing an overtly comedic performance, I just think about, I watched about four episodes of that show Blunt Talk. Yeah. And wanted to blunt object my own head. Right. Yeah. It just like, not everyone's cut out for doing that. And so I'm not sure John Travolta, I mean, I feel like we're drifting into dislikes and maybe we should pull away a little bit.

[01:06:44] But I think if they, I guess they must have just got John Travolta wrong for something, built this film around him. And that's how we ended up here. But I don't necessarily think John Travolta is an action film lead. And also when I think about Face Off, I think more, I think about Nicolas Cage. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, like Broken Arrow, that was the big deal was he was the villain of that movie. And I would say he does kind of stand taller in stature when people think about that movie than Christian Slater as like the hero.

[01:07:15] But that was like the idea of like John Woo, you know, making a big American film with, you know, John Travolta. So I don't know, like we'll get into it, I think, further just in the discussion when we're bringing up likes and dislikes. But I do feel like part of the problem and maybe why this one didn't connect with people was there was no real novelty to John Travolta being in this movie versus Liam Neeson. It was a genuine novelty.

[01:07:40] Well, I think the other thing is like Liam Neeson playing against type was fine, but he was also good at it. Yeah. I do not think John Travolta was good at playing this character. I agree. And that's where the problem is. If you go like, I'm trying to think of some other like crazed performances in history where people have played against type. You mentioned Nick Cage. I mean. Oh, against type. Against type. Against type. Nick Cage is known for being deranged. Right.

[01:08:09] I mean, maybe it'll come to me. There's, I'm sure, tons of examples. And sometimes you get noticed for just how far you take it. Charlize Theron, is it? What's the name of that film? Are you talking about Monster? Monster. Yeah. Yeah. Like nuts compared to what she was doing around that time. And that you would think as like an abstract career suicide. Because she did it so well.

[01:08:35] First of all, it showed you had another like skill and also showed that you had that flexibility and she could do it. And so it opened up more roles for her. And now she's, you know, one of the top actresses in Hollywood. Yeah. Well, and you know, you think of like Meryl Streep when she'll suddenly do something really broadly comedic. When she's known primarily to be like the biggest dramatic powerhouse of her generation. So like, you know, what was that one? Were they dead?

[01:09:04] Oh, Death Becomes Her, which we did on the Patreon. Yeah. You know, another one I think of too, De Niro. When De Niro did like Meet the Parents, it felt like a real like, wow. I mean, he'd done some comedic stuff in the past for sure, but not, I mean, Midnight Run's a huge hit. But he's also kind of playing, I don't know, that feels like a little more of the tough guy thing. But like when you had Meet the Parents of him as like the father figure, there was like a real like spark of, there's a reason that movie took off so much.

[01:09:31] And it wasn't just Ben Stiller's popular, you know, very popular at that time and De Niro's popular. There was like the novelty of him being this dad in a sweater who's also intimidating that just really worked. And I guess he was still, you know, going off of Analyze That and Analyze This as well. It's just like when De Niro would kind of play against the kind of fearsome dramatic types, audiences really perked up because it just felt kind of fun and different. I don't know that with John Travolta, it's that same kind of thing.

[01:10:00] I feel like he's an actor who's always kind of bouncing around. I mean, one of my favorite John Travolta performances of all time is Blowout. And that's a very dramatic performance. Sure. I think also something that helps is just how beloved the actor is. Like you talk about De Niro. By that point, to meet the fuckers, meet whatever the first one was, he'd earned his stripes. Yeah, yeah. So he earned the ability to do other things.

[01:10:27] Whereas like I don't think in 2010, John Travolta was particularly a beloved actor in Hollywood. So him coming out and doing this almost has a width of desperation to it. Well, where he was beloved was actually when he did Broken Arrow and Face Off. Right. Because that's in that post-pulp fiction period where he's having like a lot of hits. You know, Phenomenon's a big hit. He's making movies, even like a bad one, really bad one. Like The General's Daughter is a big hit. Right.

[01:10:55] Because audiences are like, I want to see John Travolta in movies. Right. And yeah, you are right. Like, you know, and this isn't uncommon. You get to a certain age and your star diminishes a bit. And John Travolta at this point in this movie, he is getting older. The same way like Tom Hanks has gotten older and is not bringing in audiences to the numbers that he did when he was, you know, in the 90s period. It just happens. And so you are right. Like, I think it is a little bit of, you know, an aging actor.

[01:11:22] And we're going to get a few of these in this time period because you've got Kevin Costner in Three Days to Kill as well. Kind of like a raging against the dying of the light by saying, hey, look, I am a action lead. I am vibrant. Yeah. I still have something to say. Yeah. And for some it works, some it doesn't. Well, let's talk about the things that do work with this film, the good stuff. I've only really got one big thing to say. Okay. And that is I appreciate some of it. I wrote down that the headline was delightfully unhinged.

[01:11:51] And there are moments where I appreciate the sort of everything and the kitchen sink approach. There's an action sequence when they're in a drug den. Yeah. I think it's pretty well shot, pretty interestingly put together. And like you've got George Travolta sliding down a fireman pole while shooting people. Was he? Well, well, you've got George Travolta's second stunt double going down a fireman pole and shooting people.

[01:12:17] You've also got like George Travolta's stunt double leaning outside of a car window firing a bazooka at another car. Like, yeah, this is not something you are going to see in, I don't know, Mission Impossible. It's too silly. It is very silly. The car sequence I actually really like because it's one of the more cleanly shot action sequences. When it's things like a shootout and stuff, I'm just like, this is just kind of like messy for the sake of mess.

[01:12:44] But like the car sequence has two things. Like I just really enjoy just him hanging outside of that car with a bazooka for an extended period of time. It was just fun to watch. Just that shot of it. Yeah. Yeah. And it also has, I think, maybe the unintentionally funniest moment of the movie that I don't know if people pick up on. But when he's up on the bridge and he looks in one direction and sees the car coming at like, I don't know, 100 miles an hour, something like that, 80 miles an hour, going fast speed.

[01:13:13] It goes under him. He runs to the other side and shoots it as it comes out the other side, which would mean that he ran himself about 100 miles an hour. He's a greased lightning, man. He really is. It was very impressive. It was. It really was. All the power to him. Well, I did laugh at that. And I like, if you watch him, he's also doing the sort of De Niro de-aged running. Yeah.

[01:13:40] Or like Clint Eastwood trying to run in his older years. Like you just don't. Don't do it, brother. We can all see through the fact that you can't run as well as you used to. Well, there's the chase sequence where he's pursuing Caroline across like the rooftops. And I'm like, well, those stunt guys really got to work out that day. They do. He does like every single thing he does. He turns sideways. Yeah. So they can just sort of obscure his face and just get the stunt double in. Or it's like the back of him climbing down a ladder and stuff. I've seen enough Taken films to know the tricks now.

[01:14:10] Thank you. But I can't blame him getting a paycheck and wanting to feel vibrant. What man does not want to be remembered? On the press tour, he talked a lot about doing his own action in this film. And I... Okay. Let's say for the sake of argument, he did. Okay? Let's say John Travolta worked hard and pulled off all the action. If that's the case, Pierre Morel and his editors failed him miserably. Because they make it look like he's not in any of it. They do. They do. Yeah.

[01:14:40] That's a real goof by PM around the team. But it's definitely the stunt team working overtime. I would say, though, as you were saying, like the kind of the kind of insane quality of the movie. I think it has a nice little visual metaphor of the vase of cocaine that they're carrying throughout the movie. Like that definitely feels like this is what the movie is. It is us carrying around a vase of cocaine and snorting it. And, you know, it has a little bit of that. We want to... No, don't make that an us thing.

[01:15:09] You can do that. I'm not doing that. But it does have that kind of crank sort of... It feels like it wants to do that. It's like, this is what we're carrying. This is what's fueling this movie. It's literally fueling the movie. Because you're seeing the characters snorted in between scenes and stuff like that. It's like, okay, they want to have that kind of, you know, pedal... Manic. You know, pedal to the metal. Sort of energy, like unhinged. And so, like, in a sense, they are successful at that.

[01:15:38] You know, and I know up front I was, like, negative on certain aspects of the film. But, like, I do think they are successful in sort of selling the unhinged quality of it through that metaphor. Yeah, so for me, there's a delightfulness in its unhinged. But it's sincerely unhinged. And I like sincerity in my films. I think I've been beaten down by so many of these Marvel films that feel the need to undercut everything it's trying to sell. Whether it's humor or if it's sincerity by going like, oh, that just happened.

[01:16:07] Like, I'm so bored of that. Commit to the bit. If you're going to make a sincere film, do it. If you're going to make an insane film, make an insane film. And they made an insane film. Yeah, and, like, for my likes, I'll say a few things. Because it's kind of, like, more of a potpourri of small likes that jump out to me. There are moments. I said a lot of the action is very unimpressive, and I think it is. But then you'll have a moment where you have Jonathan Rhys-Meyers going up a stairwell.

[01:16:36] And bodies are just falling down the stairwell. Yeah. Because John Travolta's gone ahead and is basically killing everyone in his path. And, like, that sequence visually is fantastic. And it's like, you don't need to have $200 million to show me things I haven't really seen before. I have seen bodies falling down stairwells before, but not quite like this. It was, like, a really unique, stylized way of showing this sequence and kind of the trail of dead that Charlie Wax leaves in his path.

[01:17:03] Yeah, and you can hear him killing people in the background and stuff. Like, it's a very involved scene. It's very claustrophobic. It's very well done. It's definitely a highlight. Well spotted. Yeah, and I like the little concepts like that. Or the one where it's him with the vest with the bomb on it, working out how long it'll take the bad guys to run down the stairs and get out to the car. That's why I mentioned the drug den. Yeah.

[01:17:26] Obviously, the fireman's slide is one thing, but, like, calculating the amount of time he needs to set the charge on the bomb to throw it out the window to blow up the car. And maybe that would have made the movie work more for me if it was, like, John Travolta's character, Charlie Wax, is insane. But his, like, methods are also... His operational skills are fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Are things that are him calculating weird ideas. Kind of like MacGyver, but MacGyver in the mind of a lunatic.

[01:17:56] MacGyver who has been huffing coke out of a vase. Yeah, like, maybe that's something that would have clicked with me more versus a lot of the generic gun kind of stuff. Sure. Um, because, yeah, like, I do think there's ideas there. And I will say, like, John Travolta's performance, I would not say is a very good performance. But I also then ask, what is the movie without it? Boring. Yeah. Like, there's a real generic vibe.

[01:18:23] And I can say, like, I appreciate, for example, the cinematography of the movie. I like that they use locations. You know, I don't know why they went to the Eiffel Tower, but I'm glad they did. It looked beautiful. It did. It did. You know, and you got to see a Kelly Preston stealth cameo in the background, which was fun. But with John Travolta, as much as there's moments I cringe at, I look at the style choices of the movie and I go like, this looks so strange. The dyed goatee. I mean, it's so distracting.

[01:18:52] But there's all these choices that feel, you know, when you see, like, an action film or an adventure film or a Marvel film, whatever, where they make, like, unique stylistic choices. That seems strange. That seems strange. Think of, like, Heath Ledger as the Joker when they were revealing initially the photographs. And people didn't like them. They were like, this is not the Joker. This is not what the Joker looks like. And then they see it in action and they go, this connects. Like, I get it. I get these kind of odd choices.

[01:19:22] Sometimes it clicks and these odd choices make so much sense. This is a movie where the odd choices never made sense. But I was fascinated by them nonetheless. And it gives the movie an identity for that. Yeah. Again, I go, I mentioned this earlier. It goes back to that comparison thing of at least this has an identity. This has a sincere commitment to the bit because Netflix would not put this film out. No. Well.

[01:19:52] All of its edges would be completely sanded off. Yes, I agree. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure they could still make some of the stuff. But, like, the unhinged nature of Travolta would not exist on Netflix. So, much as you could say, like, oh, it's boring or I didn't enjoy it or, you know, jingoistic or whatever. Things that we will say in dislikes in just a moment. Ultimately, you've still got John Travolta leaning out of a car with a bazooka. It's true. I do, like, question, though.

[01:20:22] We were talking about, like, audience response. Like, what an audience's response to over-the-top Travolta is. And I feel like... Gen Z watches over-the-top Travolta. But I feel like people have a response to over-the-top Nick Cage. You know, actor you mentioned earlier. Uh-huh. There's a way where they'll laugh at it, but they'll also kind of laugh with it. And they appreciate that he does it. And I feel like... I've never had a sense, you know, and I read a lot of film criticism. You know, listen to a lot of podcasts.

[01:20:50] That people seem to really latch on to over-the-top Travolta. In a way where it's particularly, like, they find it endearing. Maybe because he never got the chance to go as far. But then he did that film a couple years ago where he's, like, playing someone who's a bit... Uh... Challenged is the right word? Okay. I'm not sure if we're talking about the same movie, but I did see one he made called The Fanatic. Yeah, that one. Which was directed by Fred Durst. Oh, was it? It was. Because of Limp Bizkit fame. Freddie D!

[01:21:21] And it's an absolutely insane movie. It's... I named it as the worst movie of that year. Right. But it is a performance that is... Has to be seen to be believed. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. But also, there's a difference here. When Nick Cage is often doing his crazy performances, he's working with directors who know how to work with it, know how to make it work. John Travolta's making a lot of these choices with directors who I wouldn't trust to oversee

[01:21:49] a performance like this, who are not actors' directors. Do you want to know what the problem with Fred Durst as a director is? Uh, he just wants to break stuff? He keeps rolling. He keeps rolling. They're like, are we done? He's like, rolling, rolling, rolling. Rolling, rolling, rolling. I'm like, what? A little Limp Bizkit for you there, kids. I hope you enjoyed that. Cam and I are very old. We're that generation. Oh, no.

[01:22:20] Oh, no. Oh, God. I was literally listening to Limp Bizkit earlier today. That's something you don't want to admit on a podcast. We interrupt this program to bring you a special report. Agents, where are you? Why do you hide? Follow that Patreon trail and make SpyHards your guide. That's right.

[01:22:44] From SpyTV reviews covering the antics of George Smiley, Jack Bauer, and the slow horses to reviews of non-spy movies from your favorite spy actors. There's no more secrets over on our Patreon. But Cam, tell the listeners about this week's top secret broadcast. Scott, the Las Vegas fun just keeps on coming. And for this month's On the Small Screen, we're going to take a look at the series Las Vegas, which ran from 2003 to 2008.

[01:23:14] Did you know the lead character of that show was a spy? I didn't know. So it's time to find out if this show is worth going all in on. So tune in and find out. So, tar-tune your dial to patreon.com slash spyhards and spice up your podcast feed. But before Nick-Nack runs out of Tabasco, resume the spy jinx. Well, let's get to dislikes.

[01:23:40] I mean, I think the thing that ages this film the most and perhaps makes it less likely to be rediscovered or discovered is just it really falling into the pocket of that post-9-11 American jingoism anti-anyone who is from an Asian country, basically, at this point. It takes shot at anyone from Asia, any side of that continent whatsoever.

[01:24:05] Yeah, and that's something that's become an issue with a number of the Luc Besson action films. Taken had a lot of controversies around it as well. And here, yeah, it's... I feel like the filmmakers might have said, like, well, it's an equal opportunity offender. We're making fun of everybody. But I'm like, no. No, definitely not. Like, this movie is very targeted against its, you know, basically minority bad guys. And you're right.

[01:24:34] It has that kind of uncomfortable attitude that was more prevalent at the time. But when you transplant it to now, are you going to go for something like this? Or are you going to go for something that maybe falls into, I don't know, just like pastures that are more... You can kind of turn off your brain and enjoy it without being kind of like, huh? Oh, boy. Or on the other way around, like a film we recently tackled from around the same time period, Traitor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, again, is dealing with kind of American jingoism in its own way.

[01:25:05] But I think with a lot of more sort of depth and a lot more... Well, it knows what it's commenting on. Well, yeah. And it has something to say. And it says it successfully. And it doesn't... It's not punching down. No, no. This is punching down a lot. Yeah. And I think that's what dates it. Yeah. And that scene where he shoots the woman in the head, you're like... On one hand, it's bold. It definitely catches you off guard. But it is kind of like, huh?

[01:25:35] Huh? Yeah. And there's a scene... I mean, I was going to save it for the notes section. But it is actually something that I liked. Was sort of a twist on the ending. Because you usually expect the knight in shining armor to talk down the terrorist. And she'll take the vest off and go back to the arms of the man she loves. But no, he shoots her in the head too. What did you think of the twist with the girlfriend? What's your friend?

[01:26:05] Well. Uh-oh. It is my sixth note. She's a honey trap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's too perfect. I'm not great at spotting these things. Despite having reviewed spy movies for seven years. But on this occasion, I knew it very early on. She's too perfect, like you say. But she's too forgiving. Like she plans a big dinner for them. And he gets the job to go meet Charlie Wax.

[01:26:35] And she's like, oh, well. Have a nice time. I love you. Bye. And there's a moment where she sees the two men and a sex worker together. And there's no real fallout from that whatsoever. Not really. Ironically, that's how we met. It is. It is indeed. I was the sex worker.

[01:27:03] I was like, I'd like you to work on a podcast. Me? And here we are. Yeah, yeah. You're really like a gentleman. What's the name of that film? Which one? Officer and a Gentleman. Oh, no. You're thinking of Pretty Woman. I'm thinking of Pretty Woman. Well, in my head, I was thinking of the scene where Officer and a Gentleman, when he comes in and picks her out and carries her out of the room. I know that she's not a sex worker. She's working in like a... No, no, no.

[01:27:31] Officer and a Gentleman is when you walk into my bakery I work in. And I'm wearing my all whites. And you pick me up and carry me out the door of the workplace. Okay. We could arrange that. What was the song with that? Lift Us Up When We Belong? Was that the song? That's Officer and a Gentleman. Yeah. Okay. We'll do that next time I'm in Vancouver. Yeah. I have met some of your colleagues and I think they'd probably enjoy it. Yes, it would be very funny. But yeah, I did have another note on this one with like the girlfriend stuff.

[01:27:59] It would work better for me if I cared about that character at all. Sure. Like it's like you feel like she's just kind of cast in that sort of like Michael Bay-esque way of like here's a very attractive woman who's basically like a model who's just dating our hero for reasons and she has no depth. But we don't focus on her much. That's fine. That's fine. She pops up. The camera clearly is focused on certain things and that's that. You get it when you watch a Michael Bay film or something.

[01:28:29] The fact that they then kind of turn it into this very tragic character who's fallen under the spell of basically a terrorist cult. Yeah, but like that's only given like a one sentence explanation. Yes, exactly. Like there's no depth to it and you get a moment of him like professing his love for her and then shooting her in the head and I'm like in a dramatic film that earned that it would be like gangbusters. But here it's kind of gross and also kind of silly. Yeah, it's silly and gross at the same time.

[01:29:00] Yeah, which leaves you with an uneasy feeling in your stomach like I felt after that elevator ride with Cam and his friend. I was uneasy also. This is the period too where it's like 2010s where we get the aging male movie stars who are like I am hypersexual and I need you all to know that. Obviously, the mummy is the famous example with Tom Cruise, the one I like to constantly go back to.

[01:29:27] But here with like John Travolta and the sex worker where you're like, oh, brother. You know in that stock room at the back, he's just banging the wall with his hand and she's just on her phone. Bored. Yeah. You want to do anything? No, I can't. I actually can't. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, no, no. People, I am a sexual Tyrannosaurus Rex. I love women. I love women a lot. More than you can imagine. Oh, I'm so hungry for their dresses.

[01:29:58] Yeah. It's just like, yeah, it's a choice that's very strange. I mean, I will still defend Travolta in this. I think he's just, he's going, he's going, he's turning up to 11 if we're going to go with a Spinal Tap reference. Well, he's the best and the worst thing in the movie in a way. Yeah. Yeah. He is the defining element of this film. Yes. And really the litmus test is, does he annoy you or not? Yeah.

[01:30:28] If he annoys you, you will hate this film. And you'll know fast. If you actually find it, you'll know very fast. It's the first thing you meet him. He's at customs trying to sneak through a bunch of energy drinks. Turns out one has like, a couple of them have gun parts in it. But sure. Sure. There's a device to introduce him to the film. But that scene will tell you if you like Charlie Wax or not. Yeah, it will. Are you wax on or are you wax off? I appreciated that reference.

[01:30:57] Anything else in dislikes that we haven't already discussed? Yeah. Like, I feel like we've kind of covered it and there's only so many elements. I would say this, like Jonathan Rhys-Meyer's performance. First off, the nasally American accent is terrible. Yeah. Hi, I'm an American. It's like, no, that sounds really grating. To someone with like North American ears that's like, dude, just make him MI6. Just please don't do this. Yeah.

[01:31:25] We're assigning you an American agent in an exchange program. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I loved a moment up front. I combined liked and loved there because I was like, I started to say liked, but then I was like, I kind of loved it mid-thought. But the moment where he wants to be like a field agent and they give him like this chip to plant and it's him trying to like plant it with gum under a desk and it's really clumsy. It's fun. I was like, you know what?

[01:31:54] I like scenes of bad spies. You know, people trying to learn and not doing very well at it. And then him ultimately stapling it to the bottom of the table. I thought it would have been funny though if when he stapled it, he broke it. And they were like... It's actually unusable now, you dickhead. Yeah, it's unusable because you ran a staple through the circuitry. Thanks a lot. Don't do it. Yeah. Like that would have been a funny beat. But I enjoyed that stuff up front. I was like, oh, that's kind of fun. But I feel like they lost that pretty quickly.

[01:32:24] No, I feel like they change it slightly. It's one of the notes I've got in likes that I did bring up was I like that he kind of earns his stripes by the end. Like for the first act, he's basically the bag boy. He's carrying around a vase of cocaine. Yeah. And then he gets kind of a little bit more involved and by the end he actually shoots someone. He's really unable to shoot anyone during the film. He's quite inept. Yeah. The only other person he kills is because they sort of fall on their own sword in a sense. Yeah.

[01:32:52] And by the end he takes the shot and he sort of earns his stripes. And then we talked about sequels. The last shot is they're getting on a plane together to parts unknown. Well, they're like playing chess on the tarmac. Yeah. Yeah. Like so they're on to their next mission. He is now an agent. And I like that he, I think through the process of having to go through this film, earned something.

[01:33:15] But I think as, and it's, it's, I think it speaks for itself that we haven't really said anything about Jonathan Rhys Myers during this review. I think the problem is in like buddy cop dynamics. And I say cop, but you know, depending on the, you can shift it to different jobs, but that's where they come from. These buddy cop movies is you want two strong personalities. They can be different, but you want them to be strong. You go back to lethal weapon.

[01:33:40] Like Murtaugh and Riggs are both really unique personalities with a lot of, you know, fleshed out interest in them. Like there's a lot of depth to both of them. Yeah. And even in one that's like flashy, like the last boy scout where it's like Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. They both have like a ton of personality. There's a lot of like, I don't want to say depth, but there's a lot of flash to them. That's unique unto themselves here. Here it's John Travolta, like Godzilla stomping over everything.

[01:34:08] And Jonathan Rhys Myers is mostly just there to react, which when the movie's over, it leaves you much less invested in seeing him even continue in the series. I get that. I agree. Yeah. I just want to go to notes before we get to the knock list. I have actually quite a few funny little notes laying around, so I'll just take us through it. Okay. You mentioned the Eiffel Tower earlier. Yeah. And recently we had Black Sunday where we were talking about how many blimps we can think of in spy movies. So I'm going to put you on the spot.

[01:34:37] How many times do we see the Eiffel Tower in a spy movie that you can recall? I mean, it would be every Luc Besson one pretty much. Sure. God. So I'm going to say maybe like Ronan probably had it. I'm going to say 12, maybe. No, it's more. I mean, I don't have the actual number. I haven't Googled it. It's a lot. There's a lot. I mean, how many times do you see Big Ben? Well, yeah. In spy movies. I'm sure.

[01:35:07] Like, it's just one of those things. But it just is interesting to see it. And it's also like, because often you see it in the background, but they're rarely on it. Yeah. Which I appreciate it here. So the ones that I can think of that were actually on it is View to a Kill. Mm-hmm. Condor Man. Yep. And there was one more I had in my notes that has disappeared. So I'm going to see if I can just find it. Can you think of another one? Oh, Gotcha. Gotcha. Did they go to the Eiffel Tower and Kiss the Dragon?

[01:35:36] I don't think so. I don't think so. I think that's mostly set on a soundstage. Parts of it were. But yeah. The houses. The whole house that they have in that film. Yeah. But yeah, there's actually quite a few films that actually go to the Eiffel Tower. And the ones I've mentioned do. But I think a View to a Kill did it best. I agree with that. Yeah. Further notes? I've got a few too. Okay. Well, let's go back and forth. So you do one. Okay.

[01:36:06] The Royale with Cheese callback to Pulp Fiction is... That is head-smackingly obvious. Eye-rollingly. It's just like, uh-huh, uh-huh. We get it. You're in a great movie. Whose idea was that? Is it the writers or was John Travolta begging to reference Pulp Fiction? I don't think it's Travolta. I don't think so. Do you think he fought it? No. I think he was like, yes. I think that's genius. Was it though? No. No, it wasn't. It was a Royale without cheese.

[01:36:36] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I've told you my hamburger in France story before, haven't I? I won't bore you with that. Speaking of John Travolta though, John Travolta gets to sing, kind of, in this film. Yeah. So, there's a scene where he's sitting in a car, before he does his bazooking, and he's listening to Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear? Mm-hmm.

[01:37:02] Eagle-eyed viewers of this film will notice that he, I mean, obviously, when they're shooting films, they don't have the track playing when they're shooting it. They add it in in post, because having the song in the audio track of the film would be a nightmare. That's fine. The problem we have here is, John Travolta had no idea what song he's singing. Yeah. And so he's just like, uh, mm-hmm, uh, yeah.

[01:37:31] And it's not to the beat of Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear? It's not the notes of Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear? And as someone who studied music, it annoyed the hell out of me, because you could have just told him in the notes, it's Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear? And he could be like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah. But they don't. And they don't. And that, it's one of those little things that pull you out of the film, really ruins your experience for you. Ah, did you not catch the two Bond connections with that song choice? No. Okay,

[01:38:00] that song was, uh, written by Burt Bacharach. Casino Royale 67. Who's doing music for Casino Royale and Austin Powers as well. Um, but also it's sung by Matt Monroe in this, this version at least. I didn't know that. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, for those who don't know from Russia with Love, yeah, the song from Russia with Love was sung by Matt Monroe. So, nice little Bond connection there. That, thanks for that, Cam. You've given me a social media post. You're welcome. You're welcome. Mm. Uh, one for you? Um, there's the Star Trek reference

[01:38:29] where Jonathan Rhys-Meyer says he's a Trekkie, a Star Trek fan. And then, uh, Charlie Wax says, Kirk or Spock? And he says, Uhura. What question was, was, was Charlie Wax asking? I guess, who do you prefer, Kirk or Spock? Because, you know, people see themselves as either a Kirk or a Spock. I, I, do you have an opinion on that? Um, no. I guess I am more of a Kirk though than a Spock in terms of like the character I prefer watching. Um, but. Yeah, I suppose if I,

[01:38:59] if I had to liken myself to one or the other, I probably think I'm closer to, uh, probably Spock than Kirk. I wonder if this is like kind of an outdated Star Trek question to ask now, because probably when you get to the 80s, it's like, Kirk or Picard? Um, and I wonder if like pre that, people would ask Kirk or Spock, perhaps. Maybe, or maybe it's just a joke written by people who don't watch Star Trek. That too. Yeah. Yeah. Like, Oh, Uhura. And the Trekkies would go,

[01:39:29] Oh my God. No, that doesn't make sense. What question are you asking? Well, I guess it's like, who do you, who are you watching it for? And he says, Uhura. No one. No. Actually, no, I'll take it back. I'll take it back. A certain demographic of people were watching Star Trek, the original series for Uhura. Yeah. And I, I won't, I won't silence that group. And absolutely. And I think it was very good that they had Uhura on the show. Yeah. That being said, Uhura was not pulling in the punters for Star Trek.

[01:39:58] There weren't posters of Uhura on the wall. She's not in this film poster. It's Kirk and Spock. Also, like, honestly, when you go and look at the Star Trek TV series, um, characters like Sulu and Uhura, uh, and Chekhov are not there. A lot of the time. Half as much as you think. Yeah. It's the movies. There's like standing actors a lot. The movies really elevated them to this, like, icon status that they still had on the show, but they became this, like,

[01:40:25] solidified core group in the films that doesn't really exist as much in the show. Um, I agree. I didn't know that, that reference. Thank you for pointing that out. Uh, I was going to say, I did also write down Royale with cheese. I was just going to, I just underneath in parentheses, just wrote, say the line, Bart. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Felt a little bit like that. Um, and then, yeah, the last question I had was something you brought up, actually, was about how quickly did you figure out the, the girlfriend twist? Were you quite early on too then?

[01:40:55] I mean, I'd seen the movie before, so I don't remember what I thought in 2010, but my guess is things seem suspicious. As soon as she sees them with the sex worker, because why would she be there? You know, and he says, well, that's where, that's where she buys fabric. But you're like, oh, sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, it's time for The Knock List,

[01:41:26] the need to see official classics of the Spy Hearts podcast, the canon, on which we fire upon our hearts. That's right. Actually, the line is, if my heart was a, if my chest was a canon, I would have fired my heart upon it. That's the line. That's Moby Dick. Okay. Okay. I have read Moby Dick, but I reference that line because it's often mentioned in Star Trek First Contact. So I'm not going to claim to be a literary buff, but I have read Moby Dick. I haven't read it.

[01:41:56] I watched the movie with Gregory Peck. Okay. It's a good movie, I guess, but the book's good. But, is, from Paris with Love, need to see official canon of the Spy Hearts podcast. I mean, I think we can cut through this one and just say no. No. The thing is, like, Taken didn't make it on the knock list. Taken's a much better film than this. Mm-hmm. Kiss of the Dragon, that one definitely didn't make it because it was barely a spy film, but also better than this movie. So, yeah,

[01:42:26] in terms of Europa, EuropaCore output, this one is definitely not knock list material in my eyes. And, and like, um, Leon the Professional did well. Yeah. Yeah, it did, yeah. Yeah. But I think that's bordering on high art as opposed to this, which is more low brow stuff. Leon the Professional didn't make the knock list because of the fact the spy elements are so vague. Like, some hitman movies really do. Yeah. work in spy stuff where they can apply. That one does not. So,

[01:42:55] it was more of a classification thing in terms of genre than actual worthiness. It would have made the knock list, I think. No, it's Jean Reno. Nice. Yes. There you go, folks. That was from Paris with love. I'm not too sure we loved it, but it was definitely from Paris. It was indeed. Yeah, we, we went to Paris and all we got was this lousy. Lousy postcard. And, uh,

[01:43:24] I might want to take that one back for a refund. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Yeah. But, you know, it was fun. We had John Travolta for his first appearance on spy hearts. That's interesting at least. Yeah. And we won't tackle him that much more in the future, but who knows what will happen on the Patreon? He's got one more, I think. Yeah. I think we can make an argument to tackle blowout maybe on the main feed. Wasn't the experts him as well? Oh, you're right. The experts. I forgot about the experts. Yep. There you go. I, I didn't, I've seen it and I won't forget about the experts. So, uh,

[01:43:54] yeah, there's, there's more to discuss for John Travolta in the future. The speaking of the future, Cam, what are we talking about? Uh, next week. We have a very cool interview for all of you. We are talking to Mr. Rennie Harlan about 1996 is the long kiss. Good night. We had Shane black, the writer of the film on the show about a year ago. And now we're going to talk to the director about that, you know, very cool cult Gina Davis action thriller. Yes.

[01:44:24] This is one that has been in the works for quite some time. And we've so proud that we could finally bring it to you. I feel like we've like kind of like Condor man that we talked about at the beginning of the show and a couple of other films, like the adventures of Tartu long kiss. Good night is a film. We've really embraced and sort of part of the spy hards mythos. So we've had quite a few interviews involved with it now. And to have the man who directed it is a genuine privilege. We go in depth about long kiss. Good night, but we also talk about a few other things, including a bond story that,

[01:44:54] uh, I'll leave until next time for you to all hear. Yeah. This is news that people don't know. So this is cool. Yeah. Uh, tell your local newspaper folks, we might just be making news, but, uh, yeah, your mission should you choose to accept it is to join us next week as we sit down with the one and only ready Harlan to talk about the long kiss, good night, and much, much more. Thank you all for joining us here on spy hearts. It's always a pleasure to share the air with you all. If you want to support the show, you can in many, many ways.

[01:45:22] There's free ways like joining us on social media, but there's also other ways like joining us over on Patreon and you can pay a little bit per month and get a bunch of bonus episodes in your ears, including I think at least one ready Harlan directed film. Yeah. We tackled die hard to over on the Patreon and I can pretty much guarantee at some point in the future, we will do deep blue sea. And I think I actually watched cliffhanger to do this interview. So we should probably just do cliffhanger at some point too. Yeah. Yeah, we probably should. Yeah. That's a incredibly fun movie.

[01:45:51] It's low hanging fruit. It is. And as I say, come join us on social media at spy hearts, wherever you get your social media, S P Y H A R D S. You'll find us there shouting about from Paris with love most likely, but until next week, you'll find me heading off to a dinner party to indiscriminately take out all the guests. This podcast is part of Podomity,

[01:46:21] the UK's podcast comedy network. Why not laugh at what else we've got? Visit podomity.com.