THE TOURIST was directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Unfortunately, the director’s name is more interesting than the film itself. In all seriousness, Johnny Depp was the only truly intriguing part of this movie, which falls flat on almost every level. Despite having been co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, writer of such great crime films as THE USUAL SUSPECTS and THE WAY OF THE GUN.
The story follows an attractive British woman named Elise (Angelina Jolie) who we come to learn is the lover of a brilliant thief named Alexander when she is summoned by him after two years in hiding. We’re nudged gently into the drawn out plot of deception and trickery as Elise plays his game, which involves an innocent American tourist by chance. The tourist, a math teacher named Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), finds himself caught between the beautiful and mysterious Elise, the Interpol authorities tracking Alexander and the billionaire gangster Reginald Shaw, whom Alexander stole a LOT of money from.
We now have a not-so-elaborate labyrinth of lives, none what they seem on the surface, but the focus of the film tends to be on the scenery and the unbelievable, somewhat awkward romance that develops between Frank and Elise. As a semi-sappy, occasionally charming and humorous romance of two unlikely people, THE TOURIST plays out relatively well. The draw back however, is that the script hints at so many more appealing, engaging possibility that fail to fully come to fruition.
As for the scenery, the film was shot almost entirely in Venice, Italy and a bit of Paris, France in the beginning. Cinematographer John Seale captures the beauty of the settings wonderfully, but the style is perhaps more suited for a sales reel promoting tourism than an intriguing, artistically pronounced film. Likewise, James Newton Howard displays a dazzling score of classically inspired mood music that is pretty, but not terribly effective at grabbing the audience and sweeping them up in the story.
While there is plenty of scenery to take in, it is unfortunately rivaled by an overwhelming amount of blatant screen time placed on Angelina Jolie. I found her unappealing and excessively skinny, as usual. She has no real presence on screen, no electricity. Her character and her performance are equally dull. Johnny Depp, on the other hand, is enjoyable in a role that is less flattering than his usual star-power type, once again highlighting his range. He’s a math teacher from Wisconsin and a bit of a loaf… I think he may have even added some pounds for the role, which show in his Wisconsin cheddar cheeks.
Aside from Jolie and Depp, THE TOURIST also feature two talented actors in supporting roles. One of whom is Paul Bettany, often known best for his darker, creepy roles, but here is written as a mostly annoying prick working for Scotland Yard. His performance is fine, but wasted on an otherwise shallow character. Most disappointing was the misuse of Rufus Sewell in a role serving little more than a McGuffin, or red herring, with minimal screen time. It was however, a nice treat to see Timothy Dalton back on the big screen as Chief Inspector Jones.
As a very light quasi-romantic caper film with little depth and an extremely unsatisfying ending out of left field, THE TOURIST does produce it’s fair share of comfortable chuckles and scenery, but the risk of buyer’s remorse may be higher than many are willing to pay out at the box office.
