"The Tourist" is a European romantic-comedy-action-espionage film starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Taking a simple story the director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, focuses on too many genres. He adds in a plot twist that the average movie watcher will figure out within the first 15 minutes of the film.
Beginning in Paris we watch as an entire team of Interpol field agents follow a graceful, mysterious woman, Elise (played by Jolie), from her apartment to an outdoor cafe to order her morning tea. This shot only took a couple of minutes and was comparable to watching paint dry. Elise has a secret contact who is wanted by both the Russian mob and Interpol. This secret contact, Alexander Pierce, has embezzled a large sum of money from the mob. It only makes sense that Elise is romantically involved with him.
At the cafe Elise receives a courier message from Pierce ordering her to go to a train station. There she must find a man that looks similar to Pierce in order to throw Interpol off his trail. With about as much action as reading an instruction manual, she makes her way to the train station and loses her Interpol tail. Through surveillance wizardry Interpol finds out what train she will be on and already has agents following her.
Once on the train Elise picks a random man out of all the passengers on this particular train and takes seat in his booth. Elise seductively introduces herself to Frank (played by Depp), a meek math teacher from Wisconsin who enjoys spy novels and smoking electronic cigarettes. Elise insistently yet seductively tells Frank how to talk to women and how to ask her to dinner on the train.
Once they arrive at Venice Frank becomes a perfect decoy for Elise's plan. In the one evening they spend together Frank starts to develop feelings for Elise while they share a hotel room (don't ask why they didn't rent two rooms). The story line does have some class; Frank sleeps on the couch that night.
The next morning Frank finds himself being chased over the Venice rooftops by the Russian mob as they think Frank is Pierce. He eventually ends up in the hands of a dirty cop. Elise reappears to save Frank through a slow boat chase. I have seen swimmers do the breast stroke faster than these boats move on the Venice canals.
The couple parts ways but find each other at a grand ball. Frank shows Elise how assertive he can be, but at the wrong time because he destroying her plan to reunite with her old flame. They share a dance, and while they have an intimate conversation these strangers both know every dance step needed at this grand ball.
Eventually the paths of Frank, Elise, Interpol, the mob and Pierce all cross paths in a hotel room. By the time the groups meet, the audience should already have seen what is going to happen about an hour earlier.
Should you see this movie? No. The story refused to challenge the viewer. The acting was fine, unfortunately there was little on-screen chemistry between Jolie and Depp. You might want to see it if you have never been to Italy and want to see some beautiful shots of the canals and the architecture. But, you could also flip through a travel magazine to see those images.
Beginning in Paris we watch as an entire team of Interpol field agents follow a graceful, mysterious woman, Elise (played by Jolie), from her apartment to an outdoor cafe to order her morning tea. This shot only took a couple of minutes and was comparable to watching paint dry. Elise has a secret contact who is wanted by both the Russian mob and Interpol. This secret contact, Alexander Pierce, has embezzled a large sum of money from the mob. It only makes sense that Elise is romantically involved with him.
At the cafe Elise receives a courier message from Pierce ordering her to go to a train station. There she must find a man that looks similar to Pierce in order to throw Interpol off his trail. With about as much action as reading an instruction manual, she makes her way to the train station and loses her Interpol tail. Through surveillance wizardry Interpol finds out what train she will be on and already has agents following her.
Once on the train Elise picks a random man out of all the passengers on this particular train and takes seat in his booth. Elise seductively introduces herself to Frank (played by Depp), a meek math teacher from Wisconsin who enjoys spy novels and smoking electronic cigarettes. Elise insistently yet seductively tells Frank how to talk to women and how to ask her to dinner on the train.
Once they arrive at Venice Frank becomes a perfect decoy for Elise's plan. In the one evening they spend together Frank starts to develop feelings for Elise while they share a hotel room (don't ask why they didn't rent two rooms). The story line does have some class; Frank sleeps on the couch that night.
The next morning Frank finds himself being chased over the Venice rooftops by the Russian mob as they think Frank is Pierce. He eventually ends up in the hands of a dirty cop. Elise reappears to save Frank through a slow boat chase. I have seen swimmers do the breast stroke faster than these boats move on the Venice canals.
The couple parts ways but find each other at a grand ball. Frank shows Elise how assertive he can be, but at the wrong time because he destroying her plan to reunite with her old flame. They share a dance, and while they have an intimate conversation these strangers both know every dance step needed at this grand ball.
Eventually the paths of Frank, Elise, Interpol, the mob and Pierce all cross paths in a hotel room. By the time the groups meet, the audience should already have seen what is going to happen about an hour earlier.
Should you see this movie? No. The story refused to challenge the viewer. The acting was fine, unfortunately there was little on-screen chemistry between Jolie and Depp. You might want to see it if you have never been to Italy and want to see some beautiful shots of the canals and the architecture. But, you could also flip through a travel magazine to see those images.