Paris Has Fallen

Ep 1 starts well and promises a lot.

Fights are well choreographed and tightly shot and edited.

Ep 2 just about keeps the pace. But we are no longer playing top our styrengths.

By Ep 3 the writers have run out of ideas and the dialogue has started to creak. Loudly.

Ep 4 and there is no denying this is never going to deliver on the promises of Ep 1. By now the dialogue is excruciating.

A general note to Casting Directors: privileged kids fom posh schools should be dicouraged from affecting a glottal stop. It doesn't add street cre. It just comes across as fake at best but more often than not as patronising. Just say the words.

Most interesting to me is how easily people are convinced that the person exacting revenge is the terrorist... he WAS the terrorist when he was 'on assignment' in someone else's country where he didn't belong...but then he's betrayed by his own country...(this is revealed right in the beginning so i'm not considering it a 'spoiler'). GROSSly betrayed...so then he seeks vengeance for that betrayal and is labeled a terrorist and everyone picks up on that, including the featured reviewer...how typical...and i've seen this time and time again... America invades country after country and some of them come seeking revenge and are labeled 'terrorists'. On top of which, of course, they send their OWN young to these foreign countries not caring what happens to them(SO proven true by what kind of care/support they get when, no IF they get back to their own country...so nobles and serfs, still...and legitimized through terms like 'patriotism'...'keeping the world safe for democracy'. When all they're REALly doing is making certain people and industries wealthier... i think the strength in characterization of the lead three characters is what carries the show and is worthy of the rating i gave it...AND...what Vincent does in the last episode, imo, further speaks to how he saw himself and what i said above...originally i gave it a 6, but just am coming back to add this and raise it to a 7...the show is typical. Generic. Predictable, with some interesting characters and the expected action sequences...one thing i will say in its favor is it, like so many other shows will do, never felt like it was spinning its wheels/stretching so that it could last over the 8 episodes.

I found this show entertaining-ish, the story is nothing new, even if action scenes are well produced. However, why on earth are all the dialogs in English... all the Paris cops and secret service speaking fluent English: on what planet do you live? And whenever they speak in French, it sounds quite off. I suspect the dialogs were first written in English then translated. As French viewer, this typical Hollywood (althouth its a British/French production) lack of realism ruined it for me.

The actor who plays the bad guy is really good, however I cant say the same about a good chunk of the cast.

First of all, I am a big Sean harris fan.. He first caught my attention in the Borgia's HBO series some years back. He has a very particular style when he plays so-called bad Guys. It has been great watching his career advance. He is very sinister as the bad guy in this film, and adds his own credible spin and style on his villan The rest of the cast is sterling as well. The film suffers from some credibility issues in the relationships of the two main officers pursuing Harris' charecter. The rifles used in very long range shooting could never make those long shots...in a film with a lot of authentic details. The villan has killed a lot of government people who he believes were responsible for his lover and her two children. It is diabolical, even plausible up to a point. But the direction and script fall off rather sharply at the end. The end is out of sync with the rest of the film, weak. There is also a huge unresolved issue of the corporation CEO who funded behind the scenes the entire plot and who made a fortune from it, he is just left dangling and forgotten at the end. They could at least had a 30 second scene at the end where is being handcuffed. The film opens very strong and builds a suspense that keeps moving, but is very weak at the end. Good work by Sean Harris and look forward to seeing what he does next.

Well what can I say?

Paris Has Fallen delivers a high-energy experience, blending fast-paced action with suspenseful scenes set against the iconic cityscape of Paris. The storyline pulls you into a gripping narrative with strong lead performances and plenty of unexpected twists that keep you engaged throughout. The cinematography captures the tension and grandeur of Paris under siege, enhancing the overall thrill. Fans of action thrillers and high-stakes drama will appreciate this series intensity and well-crafted scenes. A great addition to the 'Has Fallen' series!

If you're a film junkie like myself then you'll appreciate the time and effort that Howard Overman and everyone else put in to make this happen.

I enjoyed it. Not my place to say where it could have been improved. It is what it is.

Thank you.