Review: The Tourist

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The Tourist

Academy award winner writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) takes the helm of the suspenseful drama The Tourist as it sails through from a cafe in Paris to the canals of Venice. Joined by seasoned writers Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie, The Usual Suspects) and Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair),  Donnersmarck would at first glance appear to be making an homage to Stanley Donen's classic espionage thriller Charade, which starred Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. However, The Tourist is actually a remake of French writer/director Jerome Salle's 2005 crime thriller Anthony Zimmer, which starred French film star Sophie Marceau.

The Tourist centers around Frank (Johnny Depp), a math teacher from Wisconsin who is traveling through Europe. What appears to be a chance encounter on a train with a mysterious beautiful woman is actually no mistake. Elise (Angelina Jolie) deliberately picks him out to throw police off the trail of her lover and embezzler Alexander Pierce, who stole over two billion dollars from his mobster boss Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff). Since both Pierce and Shaw are British citizens, the British authorities want the taxes from the money. To complicate matters, no one but Elise knows what Pierce looks like and he is rumoured to have had millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery to alter his physical appearance.

Due to the mistaken identity perpetuated by Elise and a mole in Scotland Yard, both Frank and Elise are in mortal danger as they evade both police and the mobster. Paul Bettany leads the chase as Inspector John Acheson, although his fumblings and obsession with capturing Pierce leaves him more closely resembling Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther film series. Timothy Dalton makes a brief but noteworthy appearance as Chief Inspector Jones, who pulls in the reins on a two-year cold trail manhunt that has cost the British government over $8 million. Meanwhile the Venice police try to make sense of the crazy pajama-clad American tourist who is observed jumping from a balcony. Rufus Sewell rounds out the international cast with a cameo appearance as a mysterious man who appears in the vicinity of Elise in Paris and Venice -- is he possibly the real Alexander Pierce?

As The Tourist was mostly filmed in Venice, the art design and cinematography draw upon the classic romantic beauty of the city of canals. The dialogue itself is rather witty and the story development throws in a few surprises. However, I suspect anyone who is a fan of espionage thrillers might see some of the plot twists coming. Luckily the jokes about crazy Americans are kept to a few lightly delivered jabs. Frank's ignorance of the Italian language is demonstrated by his use of Spanish language instead, and is rather amusing.

The Tourist shines with a lot of star power, but unfortunately the film comes nowhere near matching the classic espionage thrillers it would appear to be based upon. There's very little chemistry between Depp and Jolie, and definitely not enough to convince viewers of their whirlwind romance. Jolie's role seems to simply look ravishing and turn the heads of everyone she passes. Her seemingly bored demeanor left me wondering if the close proximity of filming locations to her family estate in nearby southern France kept her from focusing on her performance. Depp also appeared to phone in his performance. I've mentioned before that I find it difficult to immerse myself in a film if I can't lose sight of the star to focus on their character, and Depp's performances in Donnie Brasco and Chocolat successfully met that challenge. Sadly his portrayal of a heartbroken American tourist is unconvincing, although he does have a few understated humorous moments.

The Tourist went through a few changes in the casting and direction -- originally the movie was set to be directed by Lasse Hallström, but he had to drop out of the film over scheduling conflicts. Donnersmarck joined the project when Jolie signed on for the female lead, but left temporarily along with intended lead Sam Worthington over "creative differences." One can only guess the impact of those changes, but whatever the case it's not enough to keep this boat from sinking. The Tourist is an enjoyable enough film, but I'd recommend waiting until it hits the rental market.