What does it mean for something to ‘fall’?
By now, one could argue that this is what happens when Gerard Butler, stubble-faced and growling through clenched teeth in a strange American accent, finds himself in a “Die Hard”-like situation, somewhere requires protection or reclamation. People against anonymous terrorists. But, like previous attempts to adapt mid-budget EuropaCorp-adjacent action movies to the small screen (“Taken,” “Shooter,” “Nikita”), “Paris Has Fallen” feels incredibly detached from its big-screen inspirations. Does. Sure, there’s a fat guy in a boxy suit dispatching baddies with John Wick-ian efficiency, and a villain brimming with megalomaniacal plans. But there’s something curious about “Paris,” a show that subverts Butler’s corn-fed actioner conceit and does something by turns innovative and throwaway with it.
The eight-episode series, which airs on Hulu, begins in typical Jerry-Butler fashion: A group of terrorists, masked as a French clown troupe, hijack a party at the British Embassy in Paris. Their leader, played perfectly by a fire-breathing Shawn Harris, kills several people and demands to see the French minister. Unfortunately for her, she is secretly captured by her head of security, Vincent (Tevfik Jallab), who foils her plans with the help of an undercover MI6 agent named Zara (Ritu Arya, “Polite Society”). helps to. After the smoke clears and Harris’s villain is gone, Vincent and Zara reluctantly join forces to capture him and find out his true motivations.
From here, “Paris” spends its first four episodes following a smart, but well-worn and sometimes repetitive formula: Vincent and Zara track down Harris’ next target, who we learn about. After discovering that he is involved in a failed mission in Afghanistan, Harris seems to want revenge; There was a lot of exposition and rote character moments meant to subtly underline our leads; A few moments of true compassion with Harris; Then one of the many, many action scenes which, while well staged, can begin to blur together after a long time.
It’s all very workmanship-like, which is admirable in its own way. Director Oded Raskin fills the first four episodes with a plethora of brutal hand-to-hand scenes, many of which have their own unique quirks, even if they become more anonymous the longer you watch. However, the leads leave a lot to be desired; Jallaab’s stone-faced guardians don’t give us much to glorify except a kind of bland indifference, while Arya gets the thankless job of carrying most of the film’s charisma. (Here she is definitely good.)
But it’s Harris who gets away with it, the character actor’s reptilian voice seemingly tailor-made for these types of villainous roles. There is little similarity between his character and Ed Harris’s character in “The Rock”: both military men betrayed their country, attacking the military and political operatives who left them and their men to die. Covered in a mixture of bandages and third-degree burns, Harris imbues his antagonist with a weight of great purpose, which is all you can ask for in these types of roles.
However, this is the double-edged sword of making your villain very interesting: you don’t necessarily have to be good to win. And as Jallab and Arya grapple with one interpersonal problem after another (unrequited love, work-life balance affecting relationships), you’re left wondering when you’ll least see someone on a cargo plane. Will see scissor throwing. , There’s nothing here that’s terribly new compared to what came before, which isn’t saying much, given that the “Has Fallen” series is as much of an action franchise as you might expect. (Where’s the “White House Down” series? It’s the best movie of that genre from that year.)
While you’re waiting for Paris to end, there’s a unique danger that you’ll just fall asleep, instead.
The first four episodes were shown for review. Streaming on Hulu.