Florian Henckel
von Donnersmarck’s The Tourist, on paper, seems a
shockingly good film. von Donnersmarck was responsible for
the absolutely brilliant The Lives of Others (a film
that dipped in to secret identity as well), his co-writers
on the film include Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual
Suspects) and Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), and
the film stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie two actors
more often than not who knock it directly out of the park.
From this madly talented hodge-podge you’d expect a film
about a man drawn quite accidentally in to a world of crime
to be subtle, well-spoken, action-packed in the most classic
of ways. And yet, somehow, The Tourist is perhaps, in
context of the talent involved, the worst film of the entire
year - a plodding, actionless thriller with the most grating
of endings.
Review - The
Tourist
The "tourist"
of the title is of course Johnny Depp’s Frank Tupelo, a
bumbling math teacher that is unknowingly pulled in to the
conniving world of romance and intrigue by Elise
Clifton-Ward (Angelina Jolie). Clifton-Ward has ties to an
international criminal whom both the Interpol and an English
mob boss are hot to catch. The film revolves around Tupelo’s
mistaken man being pulled deeper and deeper in to the world
Elise inhabits.
Perhaps it is just the combination of talents on this film
that renders it so boring, so toneless. von Donnersmarck is
a wordy crafter of subtle drama while Fellowes is an
observer of the minute ticks of moneyed society and
McQuarrie is a comic book artist, a creator of enormous
characters beautifully painted in large, cinematic strokes.
Combined one would hope that the film like The Tourist
would feed off their individual strengths but instead it
flounders amongst their weaknesses. von Donnersmarck’s
ability to create strong characters and tense dramatic
scenes translates terribly to the world of action. A boat
chase halfway through the film is so slowly interpreted, so
bereft of tension, it almost seems laughably intentional.
You can sense a few of the keen observations of class and
its behavior that a writer like Fellowes might bring to the
screen, but combined with McQuarrie’s ham-handed character
arcs, they sink to the bottom, never able to either thrive
as fully fleshed out creations, or exist as more
action-packed cartoons. It’s a surprisingly dreadful
combination of talent, that surely peaked interest from
studios across the board. I imagine in some drawing room
some where the talented cast of creators assembled to bring
this piece to the screen thought they’d create a modern day
romantic thriller, where action takes a back-seat and we are
instead mesmerized by the exotic locales and attractive
leads. And there’s hint of that here - sweeping, yet
completely misplaced scores, enormous wide shots of scenic
venice - but they never go anywhere.
This isn’t helped by the fact Angelina Jolie is so strangely
hit and miss these days in both the films she chooses and
the performances she gives. Her turn as Elise is intended to
be mysterious and vague, but instead falls heavily on the
side of cold and emotionless. Worse yet, especially in a
role where looks are what help to create the character,
Jolie looks awful in the film. Thin and tired, barely able
to stand up to the low-brow cracks a couple of French
policeman make at the expense of her backside. Paired with
Johnny Depp in a strangely non-wacky performance, you have a
turgidly paced film even further weighed down by uninspired
actors.
The Tourist is such a disappointment not because I
feel it’s really any worse than any other big budget
Hollywood affair, but because there seemed to be so much
potential. And in the end that potential seems to have
barely made it to the editing room.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
-
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
related pages, including the blog's archives, is licensed by
John Laird under a
Creative Commons License.
