Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 24, 2010
The Critic's Corner
“The Tourist”
David Laprad
Have you ever figured out the twist in a movie almost right away? Until I saw the “The Tourist,” not me. Surprise endings almost always blindside me, so when the big reveal came at the end of “The Tourist,” I was shocked that the random thought I had when Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp’s characters first met was spot on. Since I’m not getting smarter, this can mean only one thing: Hollywood has run out of ideas.
Moviegoers have seen so many surprise endings, their brains unconsciously begin calculating the possibilities for the ending of a film the moment it begins. They no longer take stories at face value, but immediately begin trying to figure out the alternate angles the movie might take. Today, a surprise ending is one that doesn’t involve a twist at all!
So with romantic adventures, crime dramas and horror movies unable to offer anything approaching originality, is there a reason to go to the movies anymore? In the case of the new Jolie-Depp vehicle, absolutely. “The Tourist” might be predictable, but it’s also lavishly photographed, sumptuously scored and cleverly scripted.
I love the dialog Jolie and Depp exchange as they cross Italy by train. In their first scene together, Jolie’s character, Elise, sits down uninvited across from Depp’s Frank, a math teacher from Wisconsin, and makes a move on him. Little does Frank know Elise has a lover, a private banker who embezzled over two billion dollars from a ruthless gangster, went into hiding and told her to latch onto someone with his height and build:
Woman: “You should invite me to dinner.”
Frank (nervously): “Would you like to join me for dinner?”
Woman: “A woman doesn’t like questions.”
Frank: “Ummm... Join me for dinner?”
Woman: “Another question.”
Frank (after thinking for a few seconds): “I’m going to dinner. Join me.”
Frank might not be smart, but he’s trainable. And that makes him the perfect pawn in the banker’s plot to fool Scotland Yard, the Italian police and the gangster into thinking Frank is him.
Once everyone believes he’s changed his appearance, he intends to let Frank take the fall for him while he and Elise disappear with the money.
Like I said, it’s not a remotely original story, but it does have its pleasures. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmack (say that fives fast, or even once, if you can) photographs Vienna and Jolie with an admiring lens. From the lavish outdoor scenery, to the luxurious interiors, to the attractive actors who grace the screen, “The Tourist” has the look and feel of a classic movie. I also liked the opening scene, in which a Scotland Yard buffoon named Inspector Acheson tries to tail Elise through the streets of a European city. It’s a cleverly directed sequence. And while the “The Tourist” hardly required much from Jolie and Depp, they appear to be having a good time. It was strange seeing Depp play a down to earth character, but he makes it work.
There are also quite a few laughs. My favorite was a scene in which an Italian police chief takes about two dozen men in neatly pressed suits to the train station to arrest Elise and Frank, and then has to call them off at the last minute. As he whispers instructions for the confused ranks into his sleeve, they go one way and then the other, looking ridiculous and highly conspicuous.
“The Tourist” would have
been a better movie if Donner-smack, who also wrote the script, had spent more time on the things that worked and less on the things that didn’t. For example, he shoehorns into his frothy romantic romp a gangster so brutal, he belongs in a Martin Scorsese movie.
One minute, we’re watching Elise and Frank do a “will they or won’t they” dance in their hotel suite, and the next we’re listening to the gangster talk about killing entire families, including children.
He then strangles a grunt that failed to catch Elise and Frank during a boat chase through Vienna’s famous canals. Donnersmack shows the death in graphic detail. The gangster’s dialogue is well written, but he disrupts the tone of the movie every time he appears.
Despite these issues and a complete lack of novelty, “The Tourist” is an entertaining motion picture. Donnersmack recaptures some of the old magic of the movies without resorting to coincidence, overheard conversations or other cheap devices to move the plot forward.
And his two main actors are a joy to watch, even in roles that must have been a walk in the park for them. I was smiling as I walked out of the theater, which is something I haven’t done a lot of this year.
Sure, I wish I hadn’t figured out the twist so easily, but that didn’t mar the overall experience. Try to catch this one at the movies or on DVD.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.
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