The Tourist

I have the feeling that all the new additions to the genre of “super smart and cool sleek film” are just roses on the grave. What Ocean’s Eleven and similar films started in the late 90s and the early 00s, gets buried after about a decade with pieces like The Stranger. The Actors are chosen based on their looks, the luxury hotel, and the wealthy and arrogant style is here because there is a lack of a cohesive script and quality direction, and the setting of Venice is indeed magical, but if it were, for example, Kiev or Bratislava, it would be boring. This is really exhausted, let's move on. (10/08/2011)

I was expecting The Tourist to be worse. The worst thing, in my opinion, is that the screenwriters couldn't create a suitable mix of all the genres they wanted to have in the film, and so this very pleasantly shot thing with beautiful cinematography and a good Newton Howard soundtrack just keeps bouncing between the words "Action / Drama / Thriller" and doesn't stay with any of them long enough to really entertain the viewer. That’s too bad. However, I can't say I was bored when I was watching it. Three and a bit stars. Slightly above average. (05/24/2011)

For no reason, a permanently serious looking Angelina gets on a train and, following the instructions of her criminal mastermind boyfriend, picks up a random sod (Johnny D), who will find himself up to his neck in trouble. This is the setting for either a brisk conspiracy thriller or a thrilling adventure comedy, but not both! That’s exactly what the script tries to do, but the result is a boring circus that sinfully squanders the talent of its two stars. I don’t like Angelina and Johnny very much, but they do have good films under their belts. The creators of The Tourist, unfortunately, were satisfied with having both stars on the screen – no need for acting. The shocking twist takes the previous events to a completely new dimension that definitely puts the film in the category of “second-rate WTF crap”. (01/26/2011)

In reality, Venice isn’t that pretty. A movie full of faking and intrigue where you have characters and a viewer. Depp is pleasantly dumb and Angelina unusually noble, but there’s just no chemistry between them. Even though a couple of nice scenes and good camera offer beautiful (but fake) shots of Venice, Henckel von Donnersmarck didn’t do a good job here. (02/20/2011)

The whole movie was actually about mocking the naive tourist and the fancy dresses that accentuated Elise's beautiful background:-) About halfway through the film I was thinking OMG, who decided to totally destroy Johnny Depp...but then came the lovely, if somewhat predictable, ending and I clapped, smiled, and said Bravo, you wicked movie :-) A beautiful 4 stars. (02/11/2011)