TITLE: The Tourist
STARRING: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Rufus Sewell
DIRECTOR: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 103 minutes
RELEASED: December 10

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part-Time Ninja

Since it’s the holiday season, there are a barrage of family films geared toward kids and not much for adults. Trying to fill this void is The Tourist starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp; you might be better off finding something else.

Elise (Jolie) is running from gangsters and being followed by the British police because her lover, Alexander, stole millions from the crime boss who employed him. She receives a letter from Alexander telling her to get on a train to Venice and to find someone who looks enough like him to throw off the cops and the gangsters. On the train she finds Frank (Depp), a math teacher from Wisconsin, and decides to set him up. Soon, Frank finds himself enchanted by Elise and on the run from gangsters trying to kill him.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com.

Since most people are going to see this movie for Jolie and Depp, they should know ahead of time the chemistry between the two stars is not good. They do a good job with their individual roles, but when they are together there is no real spark. A lot of it has to with the script, which was my biggest gripe with the film. But part of it has to do with the fact that these are actors who just have no spark between them. Jolie and Depp are actors who follow completely different styles in their work, and putting them together in this film just does not yield any results.

But as I said earlier, my biggest problem with this film is the script; if the story had been better then maybe Jolie and Depp would have worked as a screen couple. There is no real development between them; the story they have to work with is filled with clichés, boring action scenes (a chase in a canal with slow moving boats is not that exciting), and twists that are obvious but make no sense with what was shown earlier. There is some great cinematography, the Venice setting is beautiful, and the film gets a little better near the end; but the story and direction are very misguided, and the twists at the end just make it worse.

This movie has been in developmental hell for five years. Its stars were originally Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron. So I’m willing to take into account that this movie has been reworked and rewritten way too many times. But it still doesn’t change the fact its not as good as it could have been with the talent it had to work with.

RATING: 4/10