Starring: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie; Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
It is always a pleasure to watch excellent actors at work. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the material is. The Tourist may be basic thriller fare, but it is very nicely put together. Not only are the Venice locations beuatifully shot, but Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie as the principals are a delight to watch.
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in “The Tourist”
Jolie plays the part of an entrancingly beautiful woman, the lover of a wanted man. authorities hunting the fugitive watch her intently, hoping she will lead them to the missing man. In what could easily be a flat role, Jolie lets the woman’s feelings peek through as she interacts with the tourist, Johnny Depp, she uses to divert the authorities.
Depp, in this film, leaves Captain Jack Sparrow behind, and delivers a more subtley colored performance. From the moment his breath is stolen by the beautiful woman who sits down with him on the train to Venice, his every reaction is genuine and thinly veiled vulnerability.
Both actors also remember to bring a touch of humor to their performances. Not so much humor that it mocks the thriller aspect, but not so little that it seems an afterthought.
And okay, Angelina Jolie is gorgeous. But she wears her beauty gracefully and without egotism. At moments, her glamour reminded me of some of Sophia Loren’s performances. But Jolie has the happy gift of letting herself become disheveled in service of the story.
All in all, a very satisfying film. It may not be a deeply meaningful tale, but it is a solidly entertaining one. And because the performances are solid, I think it will endure revisiting. The pleasure of it is not in the story’s resolution, but in its journey to that end.
