Review of The Tourist (2010) by Malin P — 28 Sep 2011

As someone who works in the industry, it is always surprising when you realize that you are working on a really shitty film or TV series. It is amazing that these studios can throw so much money at a terrible production, when that money could be saved for making an Oscar or Emmy worthy motion picture or TV show or hell...given to charity or another great cause. Now "The Tourist" (2010) is not a bad movie, and at some times its actually quite charming to watch...but it is far from being a good one.

According to the synopsis, "Johnny Depp stars as an American tourist whose playful dalliance with a stranger leads to a web of intrigue, romance and danger in "The Tourist." During an impromptu trip to Europe to mend a broken heart, Frank (Depp) unexpectedly finds himself in a flirtatious encounter with Elise (Angelina Jolie), an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. Against the breathtaking backdrop of Paris and Venice, their whirlwind romance quickly evolves as they find themselves unwittingly thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse." Now, forgive me if I am wrong, but this sounds like a pretty exciting movie, especially considering the star power at this movies disposal. The potent combination of the immense stardom and talent of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie should make for a movie filled with eye candy, if nothing more, and unfortunately, that's exactly what we get.

Set in the stunningly beautiful Paris and Venice, we watch this wannabe suspense thriller of a movie (really more of a comedy), make every attempt to get even the smallest of sparks to fly between Depp and Jolie, but these all fail as these powerhouse actors have no more chemistry than a doorknob and an onion. The emotionless dialogue between them is so over confidently bland and boring to watch, that even when they bring their A game (as I suspect they do with all their movies) more often than not you find yourself more drawn to watching the extras/background performers as they stare in awe of these two powerhouse actors in almost every scene. This movie becomes nothing more than a marketing campaign for travel in Europe, as you watch the camera pan around these gorgeous backdrops in France and Italy. The dialogue is boring, the action is often slow paced, the plot is muddled and after an hour and a half or so of the almost mind-numbingly chemistry-less performances by these two beautiful, talented actors, you get the big twist/reveal, as with most of these types of movies, and you just can't really bring yourself to care, although in retrospect, the ending did catch me a bit by surprise.

I would like to single out the sound direction and score of this movie, which I found to be quite entertaining and in many occasions beautiful, however, the music of a film, should help set the scene and mood etc, not be the stand out performer in a movie. In this such occasion, the music is particularly good, and does stand out, which is more than I can say for the film as a whole.

This is a movie that is good to watch if you happen to have a couple hours to waste, such as before surgery or something similar, but won't really deliver much more than that. Depp plays this role more subtly than others such as his famous Captain Jack Sparrow, Jolie uses her sultry charm to the max, and the settings are beautiful, but they can't make up for a slow, emotionless plot, and unfortunately chemistry-less performances by the two leads. One can only sit back and think that the estimated $100,000,000 budget of this movie could have possibly been put to better use. Watch it if you want, but it won't exactly be getting any thumbs up from me.