Review: The Tourist (2010)

When a film boasts two megastars like Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, expectations run high. The Tourist was promoted as a Euro-thriller and its A-list stars became the selling point for the film. Unfortunately, it fell short of its promises of high-suspense and palpable chemistry.

On paper, the individual elements of The Tourist are brilliant. Johnny Depp as a bewildered American tourist who gets embroiled in a cat-and-mouse chase with international authorities and vindictive gangsters sounds amazing while there’s usually never any going wrong with Angelina Jolie playing a mysterious and seductive femme fatale. It should be said that Depp and Jolie both do what is expected of them. Depp is believable in his role and is actually quite endearing in his portrayal of an unassuming math teacher. Jolie is drop dead gorgeous and there’s no denying that her expressiveness on camera is unparalleled. Her costuming is incredible and she has the tendency to draw all attention towards her in every scene she’s in. Even her British accent is tolerable. The film’s backdrop, meanwhile, is equally as striking as Jolie. The scenes in Venice are stunning and there is an overwhelming sense of opulence that works in favour of The Tourist. Unfortunately, all these elements cannot guarantee the film’s success. The greatest flaw The Tourist has is that it fails to live up to the expectations of international intrigue that the narrative is steeped in. By and large, most of the scenes between Depp and Jolie come across as if they’ve been filmed and composed for a romantic comedy. It clashes terribly with the tone the other scenes establish. Furthermore, there is a woeful lack of action scenes and Jolie is tragically underused in that respect. Why hire Jolie in a supposed Euro-thriller if she’s going to be stuck in constrictive dresses all film long instead of brandishing firearms and breaking bones? The few action scenes that are in the film aren’t as suspenseful as they could be and are essentially boiled down to half-hearted chase scenes rather than the pulse pounding, high stakes blockbuster action scenes one would expect of a Euro-thriller. Another gripe is that former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton was cast but appears far too infrequently. Like Jolie, he has a tendency to scene-steal and producers would have been better off had they expanded his role further.

It’s sad that the combined forces of Johnny “Captain Jack Sparrow” Depp and Angelina “Lara Croft” Jolie couldn’t elevate The Tourist from a predictable Euro-romp to a more respectable action-thriller with just a smidge of comedy. There are some fine moments in the film and both stars are to be commended for the effort they put in but unfortunately the director failed his stars. By heightening the tension and action, the film would have had an urgency it otherwise lacks and would have made good on its promises. Oh well, not every action-romance can be as fun as Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Grade: D+