Paris Has Fallen, on Hulu

When you are a Secret Service Agent appearing in a string of action movies, like Gerard Butler in the Has Fallen franchise, chances are good you will have to take a bullet for the President, sooner or later. That is bad news for Vincent Taleb, the former protective services officer for the French president. Technically, he is no longer her bodyguard, but can’t quite break off their secret on-again-off-again love affair. As of episode one, he has been re-assigned to the defense minister, who becomes the first target of a massive terrorist conspiracy in creator Howard Overman’s 8-episode Paris Has Fallen, which premieres today on Hulu.

Minister Bardin is a bit sleazy, but Taleb could not be choosy after requesting a transfer from Pres. Levesque’s detail. Bardin will be lucky to have him when highly disgruntled former French Legionnaire Jacob Pearce takes the British embassy hostage. Bardin is his prime target, but Taleb is unusually resourceful. MI-6 agent Zara Taylor is another wildcard Pearce did not expect. Nevertheless, Paris Has Fallen is the sort of series where just when the good guys think they have won a victory, something goes boom.

Paris is the first of several planned international TV spin-offs from the film franchise, but they are mostly thematically related, rather than sharing characters and specific in-world history. Of course, protecting a head of state will most likely factor prominently in them all.

Frankly, Oveman and company never quite convincingly sell Taleb’s relationship with Levesque, but the French agent has solid personality-clashing chemistry with Taylor, who joins the response team as the official unofficial UK representative. Tewfik Jallab and Ritu Arya play off each other well, delivering banter with a sharp edge. They also both acquit themselves well in the many, many fight scenes.

Sean Harris seethes with conviction as Pearce. This is familiar terrain for him, having played super-villain Solomon Lane in the Mission Impossible franchise. Yet, his portrayal still feels fresh and unflaggingly intense. Jeremie Covillault projects rumpled integrity as Matis, the chief of French intelligence. However, Emmanuelle Bercot is so cold and charmless as Levesque, it is almost impossible to buy into her relationship with Taleb.

Granted, Pearce’s status as a violent, embittered veteran of Afghanistan sounds like an annoying cliché. However, Overman frequently bends over backwards to invite sympathy for Pearce and his late comrades, who were betrayed by the French government, for expediency’s sake (and perhaps to protect Levesque’s political career). Indeed, few streaming series express as much cynicism regarding politicians and government officials as thus one does.

Arguably, everyone has it coming in Paris Has Fallen, except maybe a few idealists like Taleb—and the millions of innocent Parisians Pearce threatens with his WMD. The macro intrigue is fine, but the street level hand-to-hand combat is consistently first-class and spectacularly fierce. Honestly, fans of the mothership film series and the similarly conceived Citadel international franchise should greatly enjoy its brisk pacing and slickly produced action set pieces. Recommended with confidence to the above, Paris Has Fallen starts streaming today (12/6) on Hulu.