John Travolta's gung-ho US undercover agent hits the French capital and mayhem ensues in this bullet-riddled action drama from the makers of the Liam Neeson thriller Taken. There's the odd flash of Notre Dame and an escapade on the Eiffel Tower, but, for the most part, Travolta's wise-cracking, gun-toting, shaven-headed headcase struts his stuff in the city's seedier corners. There, he offers Jonathan Rhys Meyers's nervy US embassy functionary a lesson in devil-may-care improvisation as scores of Chinese gang members and Islamic terrorists are wasted along the way. Trouble is, the one-liners aren't all that witty, the carnage lacks any genuine sense that our heroes are in danger, and the perfunctory plot is so vague that it's somewhat academic. Saddled with a mostly thankless role as the straight man, Rhys Meyers is decidedly wooden, while the energetic Travolta fails to make us forget he's played this sort of freestyle psycho one too many times already. The results are serviceable enough, but nowhere near as much fun as you'd hope.

James Reese has a good job as an ambassador's aid in France, but his real passion is a side gig—working in a minor role in the CIA. He would love to be a full-fledged agent and can't believe his luck when he lands an assignment with Charlie Wax. Trigger-happy Charlie soon has James crying for his desk job, but when he learns that the same guys they're trying to catch are after him, James realises that Charlie may be his only hope of survival.