Movie Review Freelance

Freelance (2023)

Directed by Pierre Morel 

Written by Jacob Lentz

Starring John Cena, Alison Brie, Martin Csokas, Christian Slater, Juan Pablo Rana

Release Date October 27th, 2023 

Published October 30th, 2023

Freelance stars John Cena as an ex-special forces military man turned suburban-lawyer-dad. Miserable, and on the verge of divorce from his wife, played by Alice Eve, Cena's Mason Pettits' decides to re-enter the world of military security. With the help of his friend, played by Christian Slater, who Wikipedia credits as 'Mason's Boss,' Cena gets a 5 figure paycheck for what should be a cakewalk of a security job. Mason will accompany a disgraced journalist, Claire Wellington (Alison Brie), to some made up South American dictatorship and keep her safe while she interviews the legendary dictator Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Rana). 

Venegas hasn't given an interview in 10 years and he hopes that this interview will allow him to show how his country is changing. Meanwhile, Mason is no stranger to this country. He was here some 10 years earlier when he and a few fellow soldiers were nearly killed doing a mission. Naturally, Mason assumes it was the dictator who killed several of his fellow soldiers so his role here is a little tense. He has a grudge against Venegas and now he will be in close proximity to him. And hilariousness ensues. 

Oh how I wish hilariousness would ensue. Freelance is a witless action comedy of a very stale variety. If you cannot predict every beat of this deeply derivative movie you have either never seen a movie before or you are just not paying attention. There is nothing remotely original or interesting in Freelance. Bad guys try to overthrow the government, Cena ends up protecting not only the journalist but also the dictator he hates. But surprise, the dictator isn't a bad guy. Indeed, it wasn't even him who ordered Cena's helicopter to be shot down 10 years ago. 

You might be thinking that here is where Christian Slater's character comes back but no. Instead, the movie employs Martin Csokas as the bad guy. Csokas is all sneering malevolence and zero fun as the leader of a rival mercenary gang. Freelance has some grand ambition of being about South American resources being stolen by corporate interests via private armies but it lacks conviction on the issue. The filmmakers simultaneously want credit for mentioning corrupt corporations while also defending the idea of private military contractors as being nothing but heroes picking up paychecks that may or may not be covered in the blood of the oppressed. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media

Movie Review Taken

Taken (2009) 

Directed by Pierre Morel 

Written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen

Starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace

Release Date January 30th, 2009 

Published January 30th, 2009 

You have to judge movies for what they are and not for what you think they should be. That's not an easy standard when you see as many movies as I do. Many movies have such great ideas that fail to be realize and you can't help but dream of what that movie might look like. That's often to the discredit of the movie you are watching. Taken for instance is a trashy movie but it has so much more potential to not be complete trash. But, if I am to be fair, I have to judge it as the trash it is. By the standard of trash, Taken is okay trash. 

In Taken Liam Neeson stars as a nondescript former CIA operative Brian Mills. Brian has recently retired to Los Angeles to be near his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). His time in the agency estranged him from his daughter, and her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen), and now he is attempting to make amends. Meanwhile, Brian makes money on the side working as a security guard for a major pop star. This scene exists so that Brian can offer exposition regarding his talents and resume 

For her birthday, Kim tells her dad that she wants to go on a sightseeing tour in Paris with her best friend.  In reality, Kim and her friends are going to blow off the site seeing and are planning to head across Europe on her stepdad's dime to follow U2 around on tour. Brian is against the idea of such a trip, even without knowing about the concert tour, but under the pressure from mom and daughter he agrees.

When Kim arrives in Paris we quickly find out why dad was so worried this trip. The girls immediately meet a suspiciously friendly stranger at the airport. He calls some friends and the girls are soon kidnapped. In a scene that has become iconic from the film's trailer, Kim calls her dad as the kidnapping is in progress and Neeson as Brian delivers an admittedly quite good monologue about his 'set of skills.' Vowing revenge, and to retrieve his daughter unharmed, Brian travels to Paris and uses his specialized skills to track down the kidnappers.

Taken then quickly devolves into a series of ever more ludicrous car chases and fisticuffs but that isn't such a bad thing. Under the direction of Parisian director, Pierre Morel, the action and stunts of Taken are top notch stuff. Blessed with the intense and broody Liam Neeson as lead badass, Morel sets up the action and watches Neeson knock it cold.

The trashy story of Taken and the unending violence are entirely ludicrous. Genuinely, the action and plot of Taken make Jack Bauer on 24 look like a logical masterpiece. That said, the action is big, loud and daring in many ways and it works if you are into big, loud, daring action minus all of that  tricky, plot stuff.

Keeping it simple, perhaps too simple if you prefer your movie to have characters and intelligence, Morel and company set out to make a trashy French action movie with wild car chases and a high body count and they succeeded. On its own terms, Taken is trashy but it is entertaining trash. If you're willing to overlook a lot of silliness, and pretend that it all makes sense and is totally possible, you might just enjoy this kind of trash. 

Movie Review From Paris With Love

From Paris With Love (2010) 

Directed by Pierre Morel 

Written by Adi Hasak 

Starring John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Richard Durden 

Release Date February 5th, 2010 

Published February 4th, 2010 

With so much butt-kicking and bullets fired in the new action movie, From Paris with Love, one still must marvel at the fact that what most people cannot get around is John Travolta's bald dome. The shaven skull of Mr. Travolta is the big buzz topic when anyone talks about From Paris with Love. This is despite the fact that it is the follow up from director Pierre Morel whose Taken was one of 2009's most popular films.

Travolta's dome is indeed a bit of a distraction but thanks to a solid turn by Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Pierre Morel's furtive action movie direction; it's not too hard to get around John Travolta's ham and cheese performance and bullet head. James Reese (Meyers) is a handsome kid who seems like he should be more than just a glorified bureaucrat's secretary at the American Embassy in Paris. It turns out; he is more, though not much more. Reese is also a secret agent but his career thus far has been mostly the busywork, laying foundations for real spies.

Reese gets his big break when a bombastic American spy, Charlie Wax (John Travolta), arrives in Paris. Though enlisted as Charlie's driver, James insinuates himself as Charlie's partner only to find himself desperately in over his head. Wax is a wildcard whose methods and motives are more than questionable.

Soon Reese is a little high on some high end cocaine, as is Wax, and his long suffering girlfriend Caroline (Kasia Smutniak) is beginning to suspect something about his job that he's not telling her. She has an important secret of her own, one that director Pierre Morel writer Adi Hasek use to strong dramatic effect.

From Paris with Love lacks the intensity and drive of director Pierre Morel’s Taken. Liam Neeson's frightening determination gave Taken an unpredictable and dangerous quality that kept audiences on the edge of their seats. From Paris with Love is much more of a classic, bombastic action film in the vein of the Rush Hour films, minus the intentional comic relief. Don't get me wrong, there is humor in From Paris with Love but only some of it seems intended. John Travolta chews the furniture, the scenery, his fellow actors, anything in his path in his most outlandish performance since Face/Off. Mostly, Travolta is entertaining. 

Occasionally, Travolta is so hammy and over the top it's embarrassing but not so often that it's a terrible distraction. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is well cast as the fish out of water wannabe spy and provides a welcome straight edge for Travolta's larger than life performance. You have to love how game Meyers is to follow Travolta and Morel's flights of bullet riddled fancy but his best work comes in giving From Paris with Love grounding in some sort of movie universe reality. When the film arrives at its dramatic conclusion it can only work with Meyers because Travolta lacks any pretense of believability in this universe or any universe.

There is plenty of fun to be had in From Paris with Love, especially if you are a fan of Travolta at his most balls out goofy. If however, you are looking for action and suspense along the lines of Taken, a relationship that TV ads are eager to sew in your mind, you will find yourself disappointed. From Paris with Love just isn't in Taken's league.