‘The Tourist’ is a remake of 2005 French film entitled ‘ANTHONY ZIMMER’ which starred Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal, co-written and directed by an impressively named ‘Florian Henckel von Donnersmark’ who also directed the critically acclaimed German film ‘THE LIVES OF OTHERS’.

The Tourist cast consists of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in leading roles. Angelina Jolie plays Elise, whose lover named Alexander Pierce embezzled over $2 billion from a big time mobster (played by Steven Berkoff). Alexander happens to be the mobster’s money man. The British Economic Police want the embezzler for its share of the $775 million in tax money on the stolen money and the mobster is in search of him to get the money back.

However, no one knows the face of their target. They start trailing Elise for a couple of years hoping she’ll lead them to their man but Elise gets a caution note from her lover. To hide her lover whereabouts, Elise sits next to a random American tourist named Frank (Johnny Depp) on a train hoping to lead the police into believing he’s her lover but she unwittingly gets Frank into trouble as mobster was also in trail which leads into grave danger. Soon the two fall for each other quite quickly (despite the extreme lack of chemistry between the two leads). Against the breathtaking backdrop of Venice, Frank pursues a potential romance but soon finds himself pursued, as he and Elise are caught in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger.

The story of ‘The Tourist’ is pretty simple and routine, but it does have a couple of clever twists towards the end with an enjoyable climax. There are a few funny lines here and there (mostly by Johnny Depp) but for the most part the dialogue is less than impressive. The direction is uninspiring and the film feels like a million other mistaken identity movies we’ve already seen before. Johnny Depp is funny though and Angelina Jolie looks gorgeous.

It was a total mess with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp failed to strike a chord together, but it was a total failure from the director. If only they had picked a better project together, the combined talent of Angie and Depp could have made a truly entertaining film.

The  performances of duo Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are not exactly award worthy (forget the Golden Globe nominations) is pretty obvious. But oh my god! Aren’t they just the most glamorous couple alive? Which other duo on earth can come anywhere close to these two red hot superstars? The movie is entertaining in an unadulterated bollywood way. It’s a bit farfetched and shallow. But as pure eye candy, it’s hard to beat the lead pair. I got to say that this is one of the best looking films I have watched so far – as I watch a little too less.

If you don’t want to get brain drain, you can give it a miss. But, one thing that goes in favor of ‘The Tourist’ is its cinematography that captures everything beautifully. Also all the innocent mad action that you get to see in the movie is a big, fat bonus!  It’s an easy flick for those who like some action in the backdrop – meaningless – but I will suggest wait for another Friday.

Writer is a student and a C.A intern, based in Pune. She can be reached at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=816847767