Thursday 6 January 2011

The Tourist


It seems that every member of the police forces of Britain, France and Italy is in hot pursuit of Angelina Jolie as she leads them a merry chase across Europe from Paris to Venice. Along the way she inveigles tourist Johnny Depp to tag along in this stylish thriller.

Turn the clock back 55 years and 'The Tourist' would have starred Grace Kelly and Cary Grant and would have been directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This is a reasonable likeness of a Hitchcock inspired thriller. Jolie is a worthy substitute for Kelly replicating her glamorous and aloof bearing. Jolie must have a good ear because she manages an excellent English accent without missing a beat as far I could tell.

Depp, however, never matches Grant's effortless debonair manner; probably under Director's instructions so as to disguise later developments in the plot but even allowing for that constraint I doubt that Grant would ever have allowed himself to be so sullied in the same situation.

The gorgeous scenery of Venice and to a lesser extent Paris provide incentive to see 'The Tourist' and even with it's red herrings and implausibilities the film is an entertaining yarn.

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