Another story of Americans Abroad

The Tourist
Rated: M
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmark
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany.

Plot: Alexander Pearce has just stolen billions of dollars from a gangster. He now has the gangster's Russian henchmen and Scotland Yard following him. Only problem is that he's had plastic surgery and no one knows what he now looks like. The only way to get to him is to follow his mistress, Elise Ward. But rather than leading them to Pearce she leads them to Frank Tupelo, an American math teacher. Tupelo is now the wrong man, chasing Elise and running from the Russians. Who will get to who first?

I watched this film thinking that instead of Jolie and Depp, Elise and Frank should have been played by Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. Mostly because this film would have been superbly executed 60 years ago. But it was made in 2010 and unfortunately lacks the Hollywood touch.

Not that they haven't tried. The film has some beautiful visuals, not least the two leads. It's an impressive cast and a stunning location, but neither the plot nor the story seem to do any of them justice.

When Elise sits down across from Frank, you can't help but think of other great swindle thrillers like North By Northwest or Charade. But where those thrillers are exciting, covering potential plotholes with more twist and turns and rapid location changes, The Tourist is a little flat, covering plotholes with 'twists and turns' and costume changes for Jolie. The costumes are amazing, by the way. But they sadly can't detract from the fact that this is a little boring. And neither can beautiful Venice. Or Paris. Or Johnny Depp.

The film is based on a french film made in 2005 called Anthony Zimmer, written and directed by Jerome Salle and starring Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal (looked him up on IMDB and he is a babe). While I haven't seen the original, I suspect that in the tradition of remakes of French films, The Tourist loses the substance of Anthony Zimmer and just barely replaces it with style.

Those costumes really are amazing.