The Tourist

The maths teacher insists on this dance. 

With his second film Florian Henckel von Donnersmark has moved a long way from the politicized horrors of East Germany in my film of the year for 2006, The Lives of Others. His latest film pair’s for the first time Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in what has been described as a romantic comedy action thriller and their lies the problem is it a romantic comedy or is it a action thriller? In my opinion it sadly lacks in either genre. The Tourist (2010), a remake of a 2005 French film Anthony Zimmer, casts Depp as a bumbling math’s teacher and tourist who is mistaken for super-thief Alexander Pearce wanted by Scotland Yard for tax evasion and by a nasty gangster whom Pearce has swindled out of a very large sum of money. Jolie plays Pearce’s love interest who falls for the math’s teacher need I go on?

The waters of Venice never looked more inviting1

Disappointing is probably the best way to describe my evening at the cinema one that originally promised some enjoyable escapist entertainment, at least according to the trailer. The whole thing was about as thrilling as a wet week in Bognor Regis (a seaside resort on the English south coast), the romance between the two, very attractive, leads generated zero chemistry and the action was embarrassing to say the least. The experienced cast including Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff as well as Depp where certainly not stretched while Jolie was nothing more than an attractive clothes horse! The films only redeeming factor was the beautiful overhead shots of Venice, you fully expected Michael Palin to pop up!