Johnny Depp's The Tourist is a strangely understated "mistaken identity" thriller and a copycat of the Alfred Hitchcock movie North By Northwest. Set in Venice, it's a remake of 2005 French film Anthony Zimmer. The remake factor will be lost on most fans so I'll skip it here.
Angelina Jolie is charming as seeming femme fetale or at least mysterious enigmatic woman on a train Elise (also copied from North By Northwest) , a bewildering achievement considering her botoxed expressionlessness. Depp as The Tourist plays a Keith Richardswho fits in at the Ritz convincingly enough.
The similarities with the Alfred Hitchcock thriller don't end there; they continue with quickfire dialogue on the train, and a room escape out of the window leading to a roof-climb sequence that points to Live and Let Die. Both Jolie and North By North West's Eva Marie Saint turn out to be government agents using the guileless men to fulfil their duties in a pale post film-noir. Cary Grant and Depp are both arrested by police for accidental offences while fleeing the mob.
The Tourist Plot
Jolie's character has been undercover posing as love interest to wanted man Alexander Pierce who stole millions from his former mafia boss. Except Jolie has fallen in love with him and exists in a conflict of duty. Elise chooses Frank as a scapegoat for Alexander leading the duo pack of interpol and mafia on a 'mistaken identity' chase. Frank (Johnny Depp) is a maths teacher sitting on her train who say he is visiting Venice after a painful breaku—incidentally carries a spy novel.
Elise seduces him and takes him back to her hotel room in Venice. In the morning he finds members of the russian mafia ring in the room claiming he is Alexander. Depp escapes from the mob and Italian police arrest him for toppling an officer in the process similar to Cary Grant's arrest in The Hitchcock movie. A corrupt sergeant trades him to the Mafia for money but Frank is rescued by Elise who appears on a motor boat. They get away after a long chase and the two part company.
Scotland Yard, headed by Timothy Dalton and Paul Bettany, realise Frank can't be Alexander. They are performing a sting operation using Elise to lure Alexander out of hiding for an arrest. Elise seems to finally be prepared to complete her mission but Depp comes back declaring he is in love with her and blows the sting.
Bettany restrains Depp in the surveillance van til the operation is over but he escapes into the house where Jolie has arranged to meet Alexander with snipers fixed at the property. Enter the mafia-Jolie is held hostage to open the safe door.
Depp arrives and claims he is Alexander Pierce for the first time in the film Snipers open fire killing all of the mob members.
Elise tells Frank she loves both Alexander and him. Frank offers a solution, types in a code to the safe and it opens. Twist: Frank (Depp) is not a Tourist, but in fact is Alexander Pierce. The mistaken identity comes full swing. They elope Bond style on a boat.
"Mistaken Identity" Killer Twist Ending
The Tourist begins cooly with some nice suspense and mystery—chemistry between Depp and Jolie is tense but helped by some initially tight dialogue.
- Depp: I'm Frank
- Jolie: that's a terrible name
- Depp: it's the only one i've got
- Jolie:Maybe we can find you another
It doesn't have the twists and turns of Hitchcocks' North By Northwest so it exposes its lack of substance early on—but then it's not a Hitchcock movie classic after all.
Depp staggers away from Italian police and generic Russian mobsters like a rumless Jack Sparrow, managing to level with Cary Grant's weary performance. It commits to being understated but is muddled in tone. Serious thriller or farce? The film commits to neither approach.
Depp's performance is forgettable and Jolie fizzles out. Nevertheless The Tourist has suffered some overly harsh reviews and is placed in a poor weekend overall for cinema. A bold and completely out-of-the-blue Shyamalan twist makes Depp reveal himself as Alexander all along, the product of millions invested in a new face. This ingenious twist turns North By Northwest on its head, but sadly doesn't save The Tourist from flopping. While the Hitchcock movie has no Shyamalan twist ending, its level of suspense and intrigue is established throughout.
The Tourist trying out a new star screen pairing in Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie failed to hit the $20 million respectability mark with a $17 million posted over a generally lacklustre movie weekend. 3rd Narnia installment was top with a disappointing $24 million, half its expected takings.
Jolie's espionage thriller Salt started on $36 million last summer and Wanted two years ago with $50 million. Depp's other ify thriller outing Secret Window earned more in its opening weekend; perhaps being based on a Stephen King novel helped.
Jolie's next project is her directorial debut—a Bosnian love flick in which she will not appear before camera, while we eagerly anticipate Depp back to the rum in 2011.
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