"The Tourist"

I knew "The Tourist" would be good (you can never go wrong with Angelina or Johnny, and when you put them together in a movie there's so much star power that you may actually need sunglasses), but it surprised me by pulling out a twist at the end. I then went over the entire movie in my mind and tried to figure out what clues I missed, but I may have to see it again to fully put my mind at ease.

Elise (Angelina Jolie, "Salt") is going to Venice to reunite with a con man ex-boyfriend, Alexander, and he sends her very specific instructions: take the 8:22 train to Italy, and find someone with his height and build to befriend, so that the authorities think he's me. She chooses Frank (Johnny Depp, "Alice in Wonderland"), an American community college teacher from Wisconsin, but they part ways after they leave the train. The U.S. authorities, led by Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany, "Legion") have already figured out Frank is not Alexander, but unfortunately the hit men who are out for Alexander have not. Frank soon finds himself running for his life through the winding streets of Venice, until Elise finds him and tries to make sure he gets home safely .

This movie took a long time to finally reveal all of its cards, and I didn't see the surprising twist coming. We also don't find out until later in the movie that Elise is a British intelligence agent, although one can surely surmise that she is an agent of some sort (or plays a hand in something more sinister) by the way that she's being watched by the U.S. authorities. Johnny Depp's character is naive yet charming, although at the end we find out why he acts so naive, and it's an interesting character for him to play; he usually plays more esoteric characters, like Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series or, more recently, the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland."

Yes, see this movie. The scenery is gorgeous and so are Angelina Jolie's outfits (I want all of them!). Depp and Jolie play their parts very well, and the ending, like I said, was a bit of a shocker to me (though maybe I would have figured it out if I thought about it more). Bettany is good in his role as well, as the aggrieved intelligence officer whose work is sometimes not taken seriously, and he is intent on finding Alexander. If I don't get to see this film again in the theater, I will definitely see it on DVD.

"The Tourist" will be in theaters on December 10th.

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