Movie Review: The Tourist

I honestly don't know what to make out of this film. Seriously.

Yes, it was pretty to look at - Jolie and Depp anyone? - but The Tourist was just a middling espionage "romantic drama" who was sold misleadingly as an action thriller. There was some action, sure, but it was relatively sparse. There were times when things were clearly played for laughs, but they were so infrequent that I can't take the film as a comedy thriller either. It was just too darn confusing.

Now, the plot actually sounded fantastic on paper and the trailer suggested that this film would at least have hints of substance. Sadly, the execution of it all was just too disappointing that it left a lot to be desired. The screenplay was quite uneven, the direction fell flat - despite the leads natural charms - and the story was just too obvious. Heck, I even spotted the "twist" early on.

The action scenes were rather uninspired, the boat chase sequences were strange and the pacing was just awful. Some scenes went on too long when they could have been better if they were cut in half. I also found the movie to be lacking on some serious amount of suspense and danger. It was just too mediocre considering the caliber of the director and it's two main cast.

Which brings me to Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. I have to say that Angelina Jolie looked incredibly beautiful. She was sultry and dangerous all at the same time. However, this role was obviously her comfort zone so I expected nothing short of her usual portrayal - though this one was a little "lightweight" compared to her bad a*s character in Salt. Johnny Depp, on the other hand, was a little trickier to peg. I mean, he doesn't seem to play "ordinary" people too well but it was surprisingly part of the charm. Oh, and I definitely saw Jack Sparrow somewhere albeit grounded in reality and less talkative and more careful. Haha.

So individually, their performances, at the very least, were decent. But it almost seemed like both had a hard time finding chemistry with one another and this was possibly one of the weakest links in the film. Who knew? I would think with Depp and Jolie as leads, there would be chemistry aplenty. However, there was very little spark between the two. It's quite baffling, to be honest.

Overall, this film was ok. There was a "surprise" conclusion, which was, quite frankly, the least convincing surprise twist I can recall for some time. Haha. I can't say I didn't enjoy it - it's amiable enough - but I didn't think it was a strong film overall. It's like a better version of Killers. Enough said.