PARIS, the city of romantic overtures, fine cuisine, sartorial elegance – and crunching cars chases along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

Director Pierre Morel returns to the scene of previous cinematic crimes for this explosive tour of the French capital in the company of two mismatched American agents on a quest to dismantle a terrorist cell.

Morel's last film, Taken, at least had the good sense to cast Liam Neeson, an actor with gravitas, in the underwritten lead role of a father seeking justice.

Here, he's lumbered with the handsome yet inexpressive Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and John Travolta, an actor who has never been on speaking terms with subtlety.

Ironically, it is Travolta's voracious scenery-chewing and wide-eyed ravings which turn out to be the guilty pleasure of From Paris With Love, an otherwise dumb action adventure that clumsily pilfers scenes from the Bourne trilogy.

Cast as a renegade U.S. operative with a twitchy trigger finger, the Oscar-nominated star of Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction is the one member of the cast to treat Adi Hasak's script with the disdain it deserves.

And, in a cute nod to former glories, his remarkably athletic agent also gets to share his love of the local gastronomic delights.

"Here, the locals call my vice a Royale with cheese," he grins, barely resisting an urge to wink playfully at the camera.

Government agent James Reese (Rhys Meyers) is desperate to impress the powers that be, and graduate from his current position as an ambassadorial aide.

He gets his chance when he is asked to help Charlie Wax (Travolta) pass through Parisian customs and complete his secret anti-terrorism peace mission.

From Paris With Love is nonsense from its lacklustre start to the pyrotechnic-laden finish, hinging weakly on the non-existent chemistry between the two male leads.

Morel's film leaves Travolta to blast each location as a spectacularly wooden Rhys Meyers pouts in the background.

Our au revoir to James and Charlie cannot come soon enough.