The Tourist (2010)

I love this movie. Every time is on I watch it. I don't understand how people can give this 1 star. I love Johnny Depp A LOT. This movie is funny, has you in suspense plus is filmed in Venice.

Fmovies: This movie is beautiful visually, structurally, musically, with a plot as convoluted as any Helen MacInnes novel and stars who humanize the main characters gradually, easing us beneath their masks. Time very well spent if you enjoyed Michael Caine and Shirley Maclean in 'Gambit', or Cary Grant with Audrey Hepburn in 'Charade'.

From the setup in the opening sequence through the final curtain, Angelina Jolie is radiant, a classic combination of strength and vulnerability with a distinctly 21st century style. As with Audrey Hepburn in 'Charade', I can imagine no other female star in this role. It is literally decades since I have seen a woman take the gloves off with such seductive grace.

Johnny Depp is a masterpiece of bumbling charm as the tourist out of his depth. His comic turn on the rooftops of Venice is one for the ages. He changes mood and character with purely a shift in the intensity of gaze.

Paul Bettany is firmly in character as the obsessed agent who will stop at nothing to get his man. Timothy Dalton's small role as his boss is most entertaining. The police in France and Italy are polished comic versions of the hapless agents in a Pink Panther movie. The villain is a dread villain indeed. Rufus Sewell looks fab in a tuxedo and I wish he had more screen time.

The only reason I can think of for the lower rankings is that people expected to see lots of high-action sequences as in 'Wanted'. This is not that movie. The action is more Pink Panther than Jason Bourne.

Venice is timeless in its elegance as usual. The lack of a gondola ride is a nice departure from tradition.

All in all, a charming, beautiful movie that is worth rewatching.

As if that's even possible.

Ignore the trailers... and the critics. This isn't a thriller, and it never tries to be. It is, wholeheartedly, a comedy. Anyone who missed that must have been watching a different film, because it's funny - in fact, it's hysterical. But not because it's "so bad it's good". No, it's totally intentional. The lines are funny, the pauses are funny, the actors are funny... it's like a younger, slightly subtler, Venetian version of Red. What's not to like?

We're all used to seeing Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in dramatic roles - Finding Neverland, Public Enemies, The Changeling, A Mighty Heart... and it's so easy to forget that they can be funny. But they are, both of them. Johnny shines, as he always does. Angelina Jolie looks glorious, and when she smiles, the screen lights up. They don't have chemistry, critics say. Oh yes, they do, I say. More importantly, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

Johnny's Frank is delightful, touching and slightly mysterious. He has endless room to play around, and makes Frank memorable, and lovely, as only Johnny can. Angelina's role is more limiting, but she still makes it fresh and - yes - deeply amusing, parodying both herself and the genre in general. Watching her saunter around on her high heels, one can't help but recall what James Bond used to be like. This isn't Wanted or Salt: she has far more to do here than look cryptic and shoot people, and she does it very well.

Add to that the utterly magnificent Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, a few stereotypically dim Russian gangsters (they speak actual Russian, for once, and their funniest lines aren't subtitled) and Rufus Sewell, and there's no way you can go wrong.

Yes, there's a twist at the end - a twist that seemed to annoy most people. But does that take away from the film? No! It adds to it, because it's just so obvious, and natural, that it's all the funnier for it.

This isn't an intellectual film. Nor does it try to be. It's a romp, a fun romp with two beautiful, endlessly talented actors, set in a beautiful city (which is shot so beautifully that it becomes like a separate character). So who cares how intellectual it is? This is a film that's genuinely entertaining, from start to finish. And if it's snowing where you are, you'll certainly appreciate the sunshine. Give it a chance!

The Tourist fmovies. I was looking forward to "The Tourist" Depp and Jolie in a "Charade" like romp. Well, not such luck. Seems as if the director has never even seen a Stanley Donen movie. Not a single moment of fun. Not one! Angelina Jolie behaves like a first time model wearing dresses that were meant for someone else. Atrocious is the word that comes to mind. I haven't been this embarrassed for actor since Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates in the remake of "Psycho" Her lines and her delivery are worthy of an amateur, and the script? Goodness, gracious, me! How can this possibly be? Even Venice looks banal. Depp manages a couple of moments but doesn't look well as if we were looking at the movie in the wrong ratio. 15 $ a ticket. I'm so mad! Glimpses of famous (in Italy) Italian actors including Alessio Boni (from The Best Of Youth) add to the depression I felt sitting through this. They must have thought "a big Hollywood movie with Jolie, Depp and the director of "The Lives Of Others" what a break! Well I was fooled myself. Unforgivable!

Thanks to a lot of negative reviews, my hopes on enjoying this movie were pretty slim.....so I wound up pleasantly surprised that the film was, at very least, entertaining. Yeah, it was not hard to guess the "twist" near the end, but it was an enjoyable, mellow ride.

This movie reminded me of old films, '50s and '60s-type spy films in which there is little action but the characters are interesting enough to make you pay attention and see if you can guess who's who and what's what. Kind or like the 1963 hit "Charade," except this movie is much more low key. Cary Grant would have been ideal in Johnny Depp's role.

Despite mostly dialog-driven, Angelina Jolie and Depp have star-power faces that will have you involved as does the great European scenery and photography, which is first rate on a Blu-Ray.

All in all: a pretty good subtle film and worth a rental.

(Synopsis) Elise (Angelina Jolie) randomly sits next to an American tourist, Frank (Johnny Depp), on a Venice-bound train. The police have been following Elise for over two years waiting for her to contact her lover, who embezzled over $2 Billion from a mobster. The British Economic Police want to collect its share (taxes) of over $775 Million to be paid on this money. Frank, a math teacher, and Elise must evade the police, and also the mobster who's money was stolen.

(My Comment) This movie is unlike many that Angelina Jolie has played in, in that she is involved in very little action. Johnny Depp has a few minor action scenes. Most of the time Angelina walks around looking beautiful, and Johnny is like a lost puppy, almost as if they phoned in their parts. It isn't a totally bad movie; because it only has a little action and a poorly written dialogue for these talented actors. The storyline is not complicated; the mobster's money man steals a large amount of his money, and he is now on the run for his life, plus the police want him too. The movie contains some beautiful panorama scenery of Venice. Overall, the movie is not what you would expect, but it kept my attention, and it is a little entertaining. By the way, there is a story twist that you may figure out for yourself before the end. (Sony Pictures, Run Time 1:45, Rated PG-13) (4/10)