'The Tourist'

'The Tourist' (PG-13) (2 stars)

Writers: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Christopher McQuarrie and Julian Fellowes
Based on movie "Anthony Zimmer
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Steven Berkoff, Timothy Dalton, Rufus Sewell

Some movies that team up huge, international movie stars we love for the first time can unfairly have huge expectations thrust upon them. I found "The Tourist" with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie dull and too light but maybe I am expecting too much. I don't need a great movie but I do expect a movie that lives up to it's star's personalities and energies. "The Tourist" is so light and airy I thought it was going to blow away. Johnny Depp plays Frank, a normal man taking a train ride to mend a broken heart. There he meets Elise who we have seen before being tracked by we think government agents. Elise is played by Angelina Jolie and I must say she looks breathtaking here matching the beautiful photography. She recruits Frank on a little mission as she is being tracked by a government agent played by Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind). They are all after money stolen by a mobster played by Steven Berkoff (Beverly Hills Cop). The plot is pretty simple and there will be some twists later on but the twists are even lazy. I found Depp and Jolie dependably good as they always are even though the role for Depp doesn't live up to his larger than life screen presence. He plays a pretty straight laced guy and Depp comes off sometimes like he doesn't want to be in this movie.

Now maybe I am being too hard and this movie is supposed to be light and pleasant but for a romantic movie and chase thriller why was I thinking of other things. Like thinking how beautiful France, Italy and Jolie look. I was pretty bored throughout and we are talking about Jolie and Depp here! The writers and directors have also written and directed some of the best movies in the last decades. Julian Fellowes wrote "Gosford Park" and Christopher McQuarrie wrote "The Usual Suspects". Both of them together should have written something with more meat on it here. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck directed one of the beat foreign films in decades with "The Lives of Others". I know this is supposed to be a light, romantic comedy but I think it fails on even a small level. By the end I didn't care what happened and when I saw a slow motion bullets hitting people scene I moaned. Really? That kind of "Matrix" type shooting scene by great talented writers and film makers?

I also thought about the type of movie that is ten times better then this for romantic, chase adventures. In 1984 there was a cool and super fun movie called "Romancing the Stone" that I thought about while watching this. That is an exciting movie that show cased Michael Douglass and Kathleen Turner and created huge sparks and excitement. That is the type of fun movie Jolie and Depp should be making. That might be unfair to compare this movie with a classic but I had no choice, I was bored.