Stop me if you’ve heard this before in 2010: Hollywood A-list male and Hollywood A-list female thrust together in part funny, part romantic, part action-thriller movie madness. Ring any bells? Well cast your mind back to the summer where Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz teamed up in James Mangold’s rollercoaster Knight and Day (2010). The Tourist appears to work along similar lines, most prominently we get another glowing partnership with co-stars Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp this time taking center stage, which in itself affords The Tourist slightly more potential due to Jolie and Depp's greater talents.
Venice is the beautiful and idyllic setting for the story to take place, a labyrinth of Canals symbolic of the divisive narrative awash with twists and turns keeping both audience and subjects off balance. Elise (Jolie) is an elegantly poised English beauty, whose demeanour combines a fierce sophistication with near aristocratic sensibilities. Elise is attempting to rendezvous with a criminal love interest named Alexander Pearce, whilst simultaneously shaking off surveillance from international law enforcement hoping to track down the same person. Elise fatefully becomes acquainted with Frank (Depp) the American tourist a widowed Maths teacher. The plot then takes on a Keyser Soze-esque dynamic which sees all parties including a sinister Steven Berkoff searching Venice for Pearce yet his identity nobody knows or even can be sure exists at all.
Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck it would seem has a difficult job to knead the ingredients into something worth watching, he manages to abstain from the wall to wall buffoonery of the aforementioned Knight and Day by focusing more on the aesthetic delights of his stars and scenery, allowing Jolie and Depp room to conjure up an at times engaging on screen chemistry. The viewing experience in the end is fairly satisfying as the tourist does little more than flaunt its good looks in an entertaining fashion that masks successfully its flaws.
7/10
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