Even if you have big name stars, a great location and access to a beautiful wardrobe department, it doesn’t mean it’s a formula for movie
success.
The
Tourist comes out in theaters this weekend staring Angelina
Jolie and Johnny Depp. Jolie plays
mysterious (and super fashionable) Elise Ward who meets American tourist Frank
Tupelo on a train to Venice. She’s being
watched by government officials and he becomes part of a game of international
intrigue when he falls for her. I could
try to explain the storyline, but honestly, it’s kind of a wreck after
that.
It took about five minutes into the film when Brett
whispered, “I’ve figured it out.” Wouldn’t
you know he was right?
The
Tourist is a remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer and was directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. There’s little character development, the
storyline is lacking and if it wasn’t for the beautiful scenery and Jolie’s
straight from the pages of Vogue
wardrobe, I would have probably left early to work on my Christmas card
list.
I hate to suggest this, but adding
some sex and ramping up some violence might have saved this movie. The Tourist is rated PG-13 and reeked of the A-Team style of warfare where everybody shoots but
no one gets hurt. The action scenes were
painfully slow paced. As Brett put it, “the
boat scene looked like it was filmed in a no wake zone.”
Sadly, Jolie & Depp have no chemistry what so
ever. Left to deliver choppy, boring and
flat dialogue, their ‘character relationship’ develops at warp speed. They go from not knowing each other to
professing love in just a matter of 20 minutes.
I’m afraid loyal Depp and Jolie fans will feel the let down from this ‘tourist
trap.’
The trailer makes the movie look a lot better than it is….
