From Paris with Love - Is Luc Besson the most powerful man in current French cinema? His extensive credits as director/writer/producer would seem to indicate that he is. Is all French action cinema THIS xenophobic?
No matter. I still like the hell out of Luc Besson-produced action movies, from La Femme Nikita and Leon, the Professional through The Transporter, Taken, 22 Bullets, and this movie - I have rarely failed to be utterly entertained by movies that bear his name at some credit level.
Yes, we know right from the beginning that there is absolutely no way that John Travolta is even going to be touched by the spray of machine gun fire aimed at him. And he carries himself just a touch above it all, playing his character with just the right level of "it's not all that important that this sh!t seems real."
There isn't even a snarling villain to boo/hiss - just room after room after room of cannon fodder like the world's most player-friendly first person shooter. If I were 55-year-old actor and someone came to me with an offer to star in a role in which I would be performing physical acts with guns impossible for even 20-year-old Olympic-caliber athletes, I would have signed on the bottom line for half my usual fee. There was a five-ten minute action stretch in this movie that featured Travolta's character that was probably shot long before he arrived. I don't think there were many action set pieces augmented by computer graphics.
It's mind-thrummingly stupid. It takes the convention of audience-credibility and calls it names. But it succeeded for me. And I especially enjoyed it because my Finnish exchange student, who normally leans toward sappy teenage love stories, waited excitely for the climax where we all, me, my wife, and she, accurately predicted the love-interest/villain would take a bullet in the head.

Yes, it was gloriously over the top, xenophobic, and you know Travolta was loving IT! He hasn't been allowed to be so bad-ass since Swordfish.

I enjoyed it and never thought about it beyond the visceral level.