Attraction to Paris is a crime thriller centering around the terrorists of the 2005 London bombings. The film follows four college students celebrating life in Paris (as per its title). Olivier, Elizabeth, Heather, and Pierre had no clue that their neighbor next door, Abdel Fariq, is a terrorist and is planning an attack in Paris. Pierre finds a bomb near Abdel’s apartment door. But before he could alert the police, Abdel mercilessly stabs him. When Heather finds out Pierre’s dead body, Abdel grabs her, and in the struggle, she kills Abdel with a broken glass piece.
Elizabeth and Abdel decide to inform the police, but Olivier isn’t sure. He tells them that he was a drug peddler who snitched on a drug lord, Ravel. Since then, he has been living undercover, and if the police get to know about him, Ravel will kill him. To save their lives, the three decide to run away from Paris.
In a police investigation, Interpol chief Edward finds out that Abdel was a part of a terror cell headed by the most wanted terrorist, Al Sawari. He was also responsible for the 2005 London bombings in which Edward lost his son. Thus the hostility between the two is both personal and professional. The students who killed Abdel mistakenly took his laptop, which had vital information. For this reason, Al Sawari was hunting down the kids.
Edward decides to use these three kids as bait to reach Al Sawari and end the ongoing struggle.
Initially, Attraction to Paris grabs your attention. Viewers are trying to understand the fuss going on. The premise of the 2005 London Bombings gives an edge to the drama. But much of the threat is verbalized through dialogues. The film also holds too many logical flaws. Like Olivier was a snitch and thus has been under the radar. This particular logic is put in the screenplay to push the characters out in the wild. But the whole setup is vague because there is no sign of Ravel in the entire film. It is just a ticking bomb that never explodes.
Christopher Atkins, playing Edward, is the only actor in the film whose performance can be praised. Other than him, everyone is too mechanized or just trying to overact their part. Their unnatural act makes the film more unbearable. Overall, it plays out like an immature drama without any soul.
Director Jesús del Cerro hasn’t put much effort into staging any memorable scene. Many of them are casual and dry. His direction is unpromising that further leads to a monotonous drama. However, I liked the ending of the film. It does give poetic justice to its prominent character.
I won’t recommend this film, but still, if you have nothing to watch, it could be an option.
Attraction to Paris is a 2021 crime thriller directed by Jesús del Cerro.
