From Paris with Love

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) driving through the streets of Paris in a black SUV to work. Reece works in the American Embassy as an aide to Ambassador Bennington (Richard Durden), the U.S. Ambassador to France. Taking a delivery of some forms from the Ambassador's secretary, he goes over Bennington's itinerary for the next few days, centering around a major summit in which the U.S., France, and several other nations are preparing foreign aid to the African continent. Bennington shows that he is more absorbed right now in a chess game he's playing with Reece during all this time. Despite paying less attention to the board and the game than Bennington is, Reece quickly checkmates him to win.Reece receives a call from an unknown source (voiced by David Gasman) directing him to a silver BMW in the parking lot, excusing himself with a cover story to Bennington that he has to review the Summit's planned seating arrangement. Going to the parking lot, Reece opens a code-locked security compartment in the trunk of his SUV to reveal a firearm and several French license plates. He removes the license plate from the silver BMW and replaces it with one of the plates he has stowed away in his SUV. He then moves his SUV to another parking space and waits there, watching the silver BMW. He watches several men get into the vehicle, put a briefcase into its trunk, and drive away.Arriving home, Reece gets another call from the same source. Reece is in fact a CIA operative working in the Embassy as a cover. He does minor jobs for his superiors, and is eager to move up into Special Ops. His superior assures him he'll get his chance, but for right now he is needed to secure a hidden transmission chip in the French Foreign Minister's office during a meeting with Ambassador Bennington. Reece doesn't believe he was given a chip, but is told it's in his left jacket pocket. Checking his jacket, he finds the chip there.Sitting in his apartment, Reece examines the chip. He is interrupted by a knock on his door. It's his girlfriend, Caroline (Kasia Smutnak) (pronounced Cah-roll-een, the 'ine' being pronounced like in the word 'magazine'). Caroline kisses Reece and tells him she has a surprise. She sits him in a chair and makes him keep his back to her. He can hear her undressing and changing into a different outfit. When she tells him to look, his jaw drops at the sight of her wearing a sexy strapless dress. He thinks he recognizes the fabric, and Caroline tells him she made it out of their bedroom curtains-- Caroline is a clothing designer. The two of them quickly start to undress as they head into the bedroom to make out.Reece arrives the next day at the conference site to give Bennington a summary of what is intended to be discussed at the meeting. Bennington invites Reece to attend the meeting with him.During the meeting, Reece discreetly takes the chip (disguising it by putting a piece of gum in his mouth and offering another piece to the Minister's secretary) and tries to put it under the lampstand beside his seat, using his chewing gum as an adhesive. However, the gum fails to hold and twice it falls back to the floor in plain sight. Frustrated, and barely managing to keep the chip hidden, as a diversion Reece finally questions the Foreign Minister (Eric Godon) about his having several Goyas in his office. The Minister says he does, and offers to show them to Bennington, who is very interested in Goya art. As Bennington accompanies the Minister and secretary to see the Goyas, leaving Reece alone in the meeting room, Reece takes the stapler from the Minister's desk and staples the chip to the underside of the desk... but accidentally leaves the stapler open as he exits.Arriving home that evening, Reece is disquieted as the lights in the hallway go out. He finds what looks like a trail of blood leading to a door out onto the roof of the building. Grabbing a broom left in the hallway, he goes out to confront whoever left the trail. Caroline jumps, startled, and then chuckles sheepishly, remembering that she spilled a lot of tomato sauce from the take-out meal she's brought home for them to dine on out on the roof. Caroline kisses Reece and then says she has a gift for him. It's a jewelry box for a ring.They are again interrupted by another call from Reece's CIA superior. He's impressed at Reece's success in planting the mike in the Foreign Minister's office, and is giving him another task on very short notice. Reece is being assigned a partner, an American operative named Charlie Wax. Reece is not certified for special ops but he is assured that he will mostly be just driving Wax around. Wax is being held by French customs and Reece's first task is to get him through. He needs to head to the airport immediately. Reece is briefly hesitant, because this will ruin his evening with Caroline, but he is told that if he succeeds at this task, he has his foot in the door toward Special Ops.Caroline, who knows a few basics about Reece's line of work, is excited at hearing he's ready for promotion, and has him open the box. It's a beautiful pewter band that Caroline says belonged to her father. Reece realizes to his amazement that Caroline is proposing to him. She tells him that if she waited for him to do it, then their engagement would never happen. As she slips it onto his finger, Reece kisses the ring and then kisses Caroline, promising he'll never take the ring off.Arriving at airport customs, Reece is disturbed at the sight of Wax (John Travolta) arguing with the head customs agent. The customs officer speaking to Reece shows him Wax's passport, asking him to solve the issue before they lock Wax up. Customs is rigidly refusing to allow Wax to bring several cans of his favorite energy drink through Customs, sticking to a zero-tolerance policy on foreign liquids. Reece is frustrated at Wax's brazen attempt to push the customs officials' buttons by frequent use of the F-bomb and mocking France's relations with the United States.Reece takes Wax aside and tries to reason with him. Wax just shows him a card for a Chinese restaurant (Reece recognizes it and says the restaurant is only mediocre, but Wax says it's his destination), and says if Reece can't get him through, with his cans, he'll call the Embassy and ask for a different driver who will do things his way.Seeing that Wax and customs are at an immovable impasse, Reece finally slaps a Diplomatic Mail sticker on Wax's duffel bag, thus rendering Wax's possessions legally exempt under international law from all customs actions. Wax chuckles smugly as Reece leads him away, past the fuming customs officials.Driving Wax toward the restaurant, Reece questions Wax on his attitude. Wax concedes that he is simply scornful of customs as being 'self-righteous' and that he can get an energy drink very similar to the cans he brought, in any French supermarket. What those drinks don't have, that his does, Wax says, is his 'secret ingredient.' He breaks the cans open to reveal the disassembled components of Wax's custom firearm. Reece is authorized to supply Wax with any firearm he desires, but as Wax says, nothing like his, a weapon he affectionately calls, 'Mrs. Jones.'Reece and Wax are at the Lotus des Neiges restaurant (Snowy Lotus in French), having dinner. Reece is trying to explain (much to Wax's amusement) how most "Chinese food" is actually American in origin, particularly Wax's seemingly favorite dish, egg foo young. Wax calls a waiter over to verify Reece's claim that the Chinese word for egg is 'dan.' The waiter says he was born and raised in Belgium and doesn't speak Mandarin.Suddenly Wax slams the waiter's head down on the table and holds him at gunpoint, saying "Let's talk dessert then, a Pakistani-Chinese dish." The waiter is in shock and terror and completely confused. Wax suddenly clarifies, "something you sniff off a spoon, buy by the kilo." It's clear he suspects the restaurant as a front for cocaine distribution.At this point a huge shootout erupts, every employee of the restaurant turns out to be carrying firearms. Wax takes them all out in a scene that would make James Bond jealous-- all while keeping control of the lone waiter via his scarf. The restaurant cleared, Wax again pushes the waiter's head down on a table and demands to know where their 'blow' is. Despite Wax's continued insistence, the still-terrified waiter continues to insist there is none and the restaurant doesn't supply it.Wax slowly glances up at the ceiling, grabs an automatic firearm and fires a large number of rounds straight into the ceiling. Within seconds, a cascade of white powder is falling into the room from the room above. Wax tells Reece to empty a nearby vase and fill it with the cocaine. Wax also lets a bit of it fall on his fingers and tastes it, saying that it tastes pure enough that this restaurant's supply is only a step or two removed from the people who do the actual preparation of the drug. Wax finally tells the waiter that he is letting him go to deliver a message to his superiors: "Wax on, Wax off."Wax takes the keys to Reece's vehicle and hurries down the street, before finally turning and stopping in an area near the back of the restaurant (suggesting he knows the streets of Paris far better than ever alluded to), and explains his 'Wax on, Wax off' as a 'code' meaning that he (Wax) is going to take down the whole drug operation. From their current vantage point, they see the waiter running down the street. Wax follows him from a distance.As they follow the waiter, Reece questions Wax on carrying the cocaine-filled vase. Wax remarks that where they're going, it's better than cash. Reece wants assurance it's on 'official business' and Wax finally explains about a college-age woman named Charlotte who sniffed some of the drug at the restaurant and overdosed. This Charlotte is the niece of the U.S. Secretary of Defence, who has tasked Wax with shutting down the whole operation-- 'chef to chief.'They park in a back alley near the entrance to a nondescript warehouse/factory which the waiter ducks into. Reece notes a street gang nearby and recognizes them as 'Dragon Heads,' a seriously mean gang of Chinese-French people. Wax remains calmly unworried, correctly punching in the 'secret' code to Reece's hidden compartment in the rear of his SUV and handing Reece a .357 from inside it. He is in no rush despite the advance of the gang, acting like they are no problem, especially after the way he handled the restaurant staff (which were no mere 'kitchen staff' the way they were all packing heat, as Wax explains).When the leader of the gang pulls a switchblade on Wax, however, he springs into action, easily taking them all down without breaking a sweat. He and Reece enter the factory, stealthily making their way up a spiral staircase to the very top, where they encounter the kingpin of the Chinese operation, M. Wong (Bing Yin), who is with family and his closest friends watching their children doing a traditional Chinese dance performance. Wax discreetly presses his gun into the back of Wong's chair so he can feel the barrel, and Reece (who speaks Mandarin) translates as Wax tells Wong that he has an address book with every pimp, prostitute and dealer in Wong's network, and he will turn it over to French authorities and work with them in getting Wong deported from France unless he gives Wax the name and address of the man who delivers all his cocaine. Wax gives him half a minute to decide, but Reece, instead of translating this correctly, asks Wong to think of the children-- a subtle hint that Wax might harm them. Wong curtly and wordlessly writes down the address and hands the paper back to Wax.As Wax and Reece start to exit, a number of Wong's employees burst in, and Wong orders them to kill Wax and Reece. The two agents rush down the spiral staircase and through a double door into a part of the factory used for manufacturing clothing mannequins. Here another big shootout scene erupts in which Wax demonstrates more of his dazzling gunmanship, wiping all the thugs out. When the last one drops, Wax casually gestures with his head for him and Reece to leave.Later, Reece is on the phone with his superior, who is assuring him that he is moving up in the agency, on a mission given straight from the top. He also allays Reece's concerns about Wax, saying his playbook is unorthodox but he always gets the job done. When Reece still expresses concerns however (he's none too happy about carrying around a vase full of cocaine), his superior (a little curtly) tells him to stop thinking and just do whatever Wax tells him... and not to call again until the job is done.A moment after he hangs up, Caroline calls. Reece knows she is deeply concerned about his abruptly disappearing and not calling her in the meantime. He starts to try and explain to her, but suddenly his phone drops the call because of a low battery.Wax collects Reece and takes him for some coffee at the Eiffel Tower. Afterward, he sniffs a little of the cocaine and makes Reece do the same, so he will appear as a genuine user when they visit Mr. Wong's dealer. As the drug starts to take effect, Reece questions Wax on whether this is the same type of drug that killed Charlotte, the secretary of Defence's niece. Acting as though he doesn't understand how the point is lost on Reece, Wax tells him that 'Charlotte' was never a real person... the mission they are on is about taking down a Pakistani terrorist cell operating in Paris, using the cocaine to launder their funds before purchasing explosives that can strike anyone, anywhere, without warning.They make the meeting with the dealer, where Wax gets Reece to request a prostitute for Wax in a building up ahead. The dealer looks them up and down before signalling to one of the prostitutes to go with them. Wax hands Reece a couple of condoms and starts kissing the girl as they enter an elevator. Reece's frustration at Wax's methods-- and his own role in helping-- quickly fade into shock and horror as Caroline suddenly walks by carrying two rolls of clothing fabric, and spots them. The elevator door closes before Reece can try to extricate himself from the situation.Wax remains nonchalant as Reece grills him on the situation he's now in with his fiancee. He breaks into a room where another john is with his two girls, and orders them all out, but as the john tries to leave, Reece notes the man has a cell phone charger and forces him to hand it over, so Reece can charge up his cell phone and finally call Caroline. Wax tells him while he's busy with that, to come to the window and watch a bank on the corner where the terrorists do their money laundering. Reece watches the bank impatiently while Wax takes the hooker into the bathroom and starts making out with her.When Reece's phone is charged, he calls Caroline and tries to tell her that what she saw wasn't what it seemed-- she responds angrily that it seemed that her fiance was riding up an elevator with a hooker and her pimp. Reece desperately tells her that the man she saw wasn't a pimp, but Reece's partner that he had told her about before leaving. Caroline finally begs Reece to just come home, and he can bring this partner with him for dinner.The conversation is interrupted when men start pounding on the door. Emerging from the bathroom, Wax thinks it's the Pakistani pimp and tells Reece to shoot them. Reece has just enough time to say he doesn't want to kill anyone before two Pakistani men burst through the door and start giving him a beatdown. Wax, acting unconcerned, watches through the window as two men leave the bank carrying duffel bags. Finally he turns (very casually) and kills the two thugs, chastising Reece for not doing it himself.They follow the two runners down the street when Wax pauses to window-shop, much to Reece's shock. But again Wax is unconcerned, watching the two runners get into a van and using his watch to order a global satellite to track it. Using the satellite's tracking, Wax and Reece arrive in a very seedy part of the city; a run-down tenement area. Locating the correct building by which the van is parked, they approach some thugs standing outside it. They ask to be brought inside, saying they have cash to spend. The big thug looks them up and down and brings them inside, telling them to wait in the lobby while he gets Rashid. He also tells them not to look a particular youth in the eyes.Wax wastes no time disobeying this request, looking the boy in the eyes. The boy promptly pulls a gun and orders them to kneel down. Wax does so, making Reece do the same. The boy's gangmates start to divest them of their valuables, including Reece's ring. As Rashid (Chems Eddine Dahmani) enters, the boy gives the ring to Rashid, and he puts it on his finger.Rashid hands Wax a packet with five grams of cocaine, saying it will cost $50. Wax tastes a speck of it to determine its quality and says he'll buy an additional kilo. Rashid is incredulous at this, saying he doesn't sell in quantities that large. Reece explains that five grams is 'personal consumption,' a much lower grade of offence in Paris than a kilo, the dealing of which will land them 15 years in prison under French law. Wax then says aloud for all of the gang to hear, that it would be bad for them all to be caught with five kilos of their own product. Reece drops his vase, and it shatters on the ground and all the cocaine inside it spills all over the floor. All the gang members scatter and run, leaving Wax holding Rashid at gunpoint. Reece promptly jumps on Rashid and punches him out, taking back his ring. Wax eggs him on and then tells Rashid to take him to the senior members of the Pakistani cell.Rashid takes him to an apartment where Wax pushes his way in. He uses a scope to peer into the apartment directly below him and sees that terrorist operatives there are closing up shop. Directing Reece to go to the floor below and shoot anyone coming through the door of the apartment, Wax attaches a cable to the top of the window frame and rappels down to break into the lower-floor apartment through its window, promptly starting to take out all the terrorists in ways that all the other movie secret agents and action heroes can only dream about. As Reece gets in position, Wax warns him not to enter, noting the door is wired with heavy explosives-- the terrorists enter and leave through the apartment directly below on the 9th floor, connected to the rigged apartment through a pole (think Batpole without Batman). Wax uses the pole to go into the 9th floor apartment, picking up the gunfight from there, blowing away the last of the terrorists inside. Arriving on the 9th floor through the stairs, Reece confronts another operative, ordering him to get down on the floor. Instead, to Reece's horror, the man pulls Reece's gun right into his own mouth and makes Reece pull the trigger. Reece watches numbly as the man falls dead to the ground.Opening the apartment door, Wax commends Reece and then asks how many got out. Reece says maybe two or three, and Wax can't catch them now with their lead. Rushing to the window, Wax sees a getaway car ready to speed away. Doing some math calculations to estimate how long it will take the escaped operatives to reach the car, Wax spots several vests rigged with C-4 bricks for use by suicide bombers. Arming one vest, he takes it to the window and starts a countdown in his head. At the end of the countdown, he drops the vest outside the window. Just as the escaped operatives rush out the front door of the building and scramble into the car, the vest lands on the car and detonates from the impact, killing everyone inside the vehicle.Wax hastily grabs a number of items in the apartment and stuffs them into a duffel bag, ushering Reece out before the French police arrive. Reece takes the time to wash blood off his face at the washroom sink. As he finishes, Wax calls him into the next room. The room is covered with photographs of Reece. It's clear that many of the operatives in the terrorist cell have been following Reece and know a lot about him.They hear the sound of the police rushing in. Reece notes the police are rushing to the 10th floor door-- the one rigged to blow. He desperately tries to sprint forward to warn them, but Wax pulls him back, saying they are forced to let the police trigger the door in order to avoid detection and arrest. Insisting they're supposed to protect people instead of letting them die, Reece breaks free and rushes to warn the officers, but it's too late. They break the door down and many of them are killed in the resulting blast.Escaping the building with Reece, Wax jumps into an unmanned police car and drives off. They drive past Reece's SUV and Reece says he has to get his stuff from there. Wax says their arrival was expected and the vehicle was undoubtedly stripped by now. But Reece's prints are all over the car and the police will be able to trace it back to him. Wax throws the police car in reverse and slams into the cars parked right in front of Reece's SUV, knocking them back to jar Reece's vehicle and set off the booby trap linked to his hidden compartment. Reece's SUV is destroyed and Wax drives off with Reece.That evening, they meet with several senior CIA agents. Wax has Reece sit on a bench nearby and hands his colleagues the duffel bags filled with evidence from the terrorist apartments. They give him a brown paper bag in return, which turns out to contain one of Wax's indulgences-- cheeseburgers (Royale with cheese, as it's called in France). Wax gives Reece one of the burgers and they talk as they eat. Reece admits he didn't actually kill the man that he confronted near the stairway, and Wax says he knew this, but Reece will still get credit. Wax think Reece makes a perfect partner for him... a remark that Reece has to grin at. Reece's cell phone alerts him at that moment to a text message from Caroline. She's told him that dinner awaits, and she's asking him to bring Wax with him.Reece and Wax arrive back at Reece's apartment for dinner. Also joining them is Caroline's best friend, a young Pakistani woman named Nichole (Amber Rose Revah), with whom Wax quickly develops a mutual fancy. As everyone is getting acquainted and Reece is telling Caroline about their day, Wax's phone rings. He goes near Reece's stereo and turns it up for privacy as he talks to his superiors. He is heard asking his superiors 'how many?' and then telling them to 'call them all back.'The four of them are just finishing dinner and enjoying light conversation over a bottle of wine when Nichole's cell phone rings. She tells the caller that nobody named Rose is present, and politely tells everyone at the table that it was a wrong number.But Wax's expression has turned very stern and serious. He tells Reece that it was not a wrong number-- in fact, it was the very call he was waiting for. Without another word he whips out his gun and, to the utter horror of both Reece and Caroline, Wax blows Nichole's head off her shoulders and kills her.Wax tells Reece that 'Rose' is a code word used by his superiors. Nichole answering a phone call by people looking for a 'Rose' means that Nichole's cell phone is part of a cell network used by the terrorist bloc. Worse still, Nichole being Caroline's best friend, Wax says, means Caroline is also involved-- in fact, it explains all the pictures of Reece in the terrorist apartments. Wax quickly locates and pulls out a hidden bug inside one of Reece's lamps, which means there are undoubtedly numerous other such devices in the apartment. Getting furious, Reece shouts that he thoroughly checked Caroline's credentials when he started dating her (much to her shock), but Wax has more proof in store... Reece's ring, given him by Caroline. Wax realizes that the terrorists are tracking their movements through the ring. Reece reluctantly gives Wax the ring over Caroline's tearful pleas, and Wax demonstrates that the ring interferes with the stereo; proof positive that it is a transmission device.A devastated Reece confronts Caroline. She offers him no more words, but instead pulls a hidden gun taped under a lampstand and shoots Reece in the shoulder. Laying down more gunfire to pin Wax down, Caroline leaps through the living room window. Wax follows and pursues her across several rooftops and down several fire escapes. But before Wax can catch up to her, a green Volvo roars into an intersection just ahead of Caroline with its passenger door open. She leaps in and pulls the door closed and the car roars off. Wax grabs his phone and gives his superiors the make, model, and license plate number of the Volvo.Later, agents have finished pulling over a dozen hidden microphones and several cameras out of Reece's apartment. Reece is dazed and confused. He realizes he didn't really know much about Caroline and is angry at himself. Wax tells him he was just in love. Wax himself has had relationships with women-- as he tells Reece, he's not made of stone.Reece's cell phone rings; it's Caroline. Quickly he and the other agents plug it into a laptop in order to trace the call. Caroline tells Reece she will be off the phone before they can finish a trace. Holding back tears, she tries to tell Reece that she never meant for him to be hurt. For a number of years she has known a man who has been a second father to her; a man who gave her a purpose in life; a cause to serve. A man who helped her make sense of things.Caroline hangs up, and she is seen going up to a bearded man (Farid Elouardi) and kissing his hand as he touches her face; on his finger is a ring exactly like the one Caroline gave Reece.A trace lock from the call is incomplete. Wax tells his agents to replay the call and turn the volume up, and from the background noises, Reece guesses the rough area in which Caroline placed the call as the Périphérique. Wax realizes Caroline and whoever she is with are heading out of Paris. At that moment, Reece gets a call from a very concerned Ambassador Bennington-- the American Delegation for the US-African Aid summit has just landed at the airport and Bennington expected Reece to be there to greet them. Wax determines that the Delegation's motorcade is going to be the target of a suicide bomb attack. Grabbing one of his colleagues as a driver, he rushes out to intercept them.As Wax and his driver race to save the Delegation, Reece paces about his apartment. He knows that there has to be more than just the bombing of the American Delegation; why use him, through Caroline? Why did they bug his apartment so thoroughly? He begins going through the house, and all of Caroline's things that are there. He goes through her clothing sketches and finds a piece of cut fabric, a newspaper with a front page devoted to the African Aid Summit... and a design sketch for a hooded outer garment like an Arabian hajib-- the same type of garment that he knows will be worn by mid-Eastern women delegates at the Summit.Reece calls Wax and warns him that the attack on the Delegation is a decoy. While the bearded driver goes to strike at them, Caroline is making her way to the actual Summit conference as a suicide bomber. Trying to line up a shot on the bearded driver's green Volvo with a portable rocket launcher provided him by his own driver, Wax tells Reece he can see caroline in the passenger seat of the Volvo. Reece urges him to make direct visual contact. Wax gets his driver to move in closer, and he sees to his horror that Reece is right... in the passenger seat of the Volvo is a clothing mannequin. Wax calls the Delegation's security agent and warns them of danger, urging them to change course, but the Head of the Delegation (Alexandra Boyd) refuses to consent. Frustrated, Wax tells his driver to pull ahead of the bearded man and take him up to the bridge coming up ahead. Lining up his shot, he destroys the green Volvo a mere hundred yards in front of the Delegation's procession.Reece has made his way to the Embassy estate where the Summit conference is taking place. Wax calls him and tells him that Caroline will be wearing one of the shock-activated explosive vests like the one they found in the terrorist apartments, under her hajib. In order to save countless lives, Reece will need to shoot her in the head. Wax angrily insists Reece has to do this, over Reece's anguished protests.Reece uses his ID keycard at the security checkpoint but finds it denies him entry. The head of security (Nick Loren) informs him that the card has already been used by Ambassador Bennington's aide. Realizing that Caroline has his spare keycard, he tries to explain to security, but of course they respond with suspicion and try to forcibly lead him to the security office for questioning. Spotting Bennington, Reece urgently calls him over to verify his identity. But when Reece tries to walk through the metal detector, it immediately goes off, alerting security to Reece's gun, creating an even bigger problem. Even Bennington has no knowledge of Reece being authorized to carry firearms. Reece quietly tells Bennington that a suicide bomber is in the building. Caroline began dating and living with Reece to establish a cover for herself and ultimately give herself a means of entering the Summit conference. Bennington asks Reece if he's absolutely sure she's in the building, and Reece is forced to admit he isn't. Thinking quickly, Bennington asks Summit security to let Reece through. They say they will do so, but only if Reece is unarmed-- he cannot take his weapon. Bennington nods in agreement, and security lets go of Reece. The head of security discreetly follows behind him to watch him.Reece spots a woman wearing a hajib like the one in Caroline's sketch. He calls out to her; she half-turns and ducks into one of the conference rooms. Reece follows and sees the point behind Caroline's hajib-- it exactly matches those worn by all the other African and Mid-Eastern women delegates, making her indistinguishable from them, as they all have the hoods up.Following behind Reece, the head of security notes his agitation and quietly radios for backup, knowing a situation is about to start.Needing to pick Caroline out among the women delegates, Reece grabs a gun from one of the security officers and shouts in a loud voice for him not to move. He brandishes the gun so everyone in the room will see he has it. All the delegates and diplomats in the room begin to scatter or duck for cover. Reece's plan pays off as he sees one of the robed women's feet as she scurries away. She's wearing orange pumps: Caroline's shoes. He points his gun at her and orders her to freeze. Caroline complies, putting her hands up in the air, but she also is waiting to see if the security agents converging can disarm Reece. The agents repeatedly order him to drop his weapon, but refrain from opening fire as Reece is making no other threatening moves other than holding Caroline at gunpoint. Caroline finally turns to face Reece and slowly lowers her hood to reveal her face, and then she pulls her hajib open to reveal her explosive-laden vest. Instantly all the security agents' guns are turned to point at her. Reece shouts for them to hold fire, because the impact of the bullets will detonate her vest. Reece desperately tries to reason with Caroline, pleading to her that despite everything, he still loves her with all his heart, and that is all the 'sense' either of them will be able to make of anything that has transpired-- he still loves her. For a few instants it appears that Caroline is listening to Reece, but then her hand starts lifting up to tap the plate that will detonate her vest. Forced to react, Reece takes quick but careful aim and fires a shot right into Caroline's forehead. Arriving on the scene, Wax catches her falling body before it hits the floor, and disconnects the wires that charge her vest.Outside, the Head of the American Delegation is being required to remain seated in her car without an explanation, and she is getting angrier and more impatient by the minute. Her security agent recognizes Wax exiting the building and desperately asks him to explain to her. Wax gives a very vague story that a security problem has been handled and she is free to enter the Summit. The Head of the Delegation marches up to Bennington and curtly (and rudely) demands that the person or persons responsible for the delay be identified and fired.Reece is bringing Wax to the airport to return to the United States. He gives Wax a cheeseburger as a going-away present. Wax laughs appreciatively and tells Reece that his performance and heroics have almost assuredly earned him a big promotion that will more than likely take him on the road; though as Wax adds, he would certainly love it if Reece came with him. Reece wants to get back to his apartment, having a lot of things to take care of. Wax tells him that his apartment has already been 'packed up and shipped out,' but Wax has what he believes Reece wants-- a strip of photographs that Reece and Caroline posed for at a street-side automatic photo booth, the only memento Reece will have to remember Caroline by.The movie closes with Wax revealing that he is also a chess player, and invites Reece to play a game with him before Wax leaves. The camera pans out gradually as they set up the board and pieces, along with a good-natured trading of 'smack talk.'

Tags: violence, humor, murder, romantic

Review: