Monday 23 April 2012

The Tourist [Guest Writer] (4½ Stars)


Elise (Angelina Jolie) sits next to an American tourist, Frank (Johnny Depp), on a train going to Venice. She has chosen him as a decoy, making believe that he is her lover who is wanted by police. Not only will they need to evade the police, but also the mobster whose money her lover stole.

It's important to note that this is the American remake of Anthony Zimmer, a French romantic thriller film released in 2005. Before I saw this movie I had decided to do some reading up on it and found this out which led me to learning more about the original and by the time I saw The Tourist, I had already known the entire plot or at least the general gist of it all. I can honestly say that I'm not the type of person where learning the spoilers ruin the experience of the movie for me but for those that feel this way I'll be careful not to share too much. [smiles]

The movie starts out with Elise being followed by the French Police and Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany - Priest) who has spent years hunting Elise's lover, Alexander Pearce, who owes £744 million pounds (nearly 2 billion USD) in back taxes and is believed to have had extensive plastic surgery to change his appearance completely. Elise receives a letter from Pearce instructing her to board a train to Venice and pick out a man who resembles Pearce, and make the police believe that this decoy is Pearce himself - this decoy turns out to be an American school teacher, Frank, played by Jonny Depp. As the film progresses, we soon learn that Pearce also in trouble with a mobster whom he stole 2.3 billion from and this puts Frank into further trouble as he has to avoid Inspector Acheson and Reginald Shaw - the gangster. The movie has it's funny moments - not belly laughs but more of quiet or inward chuckles of light amusement at Frank's predicament. There is also a strong underlying plot of romance running evenly with the suspense and thriller portion of it but it feels very well interwoven into one full story. Overall I really enjoyed this film and recommend it. It may not be for everyone as there aren't any huge action sequences to draw your attention except for a few shoot outs. But I enjoyed it so I guess that says something. Ha!

1 comment:

  1. I didn't realise this is a remake. Thanks for telling me. It's already on my to-watch list, for two reasons. Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors, and I'm in love with the city of Venice. Venice must be the world's most beautiful city, only ruined by being clogged up with tourists 12 months a year.

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