Review: The Tourist (2010) TH

Fanciful events for a whimsical vacation

This is another movie that uses a bait and switch with its trailer. It's made out to be an action/thriller with a constant, heart-racing traction, though the actual tone plays out as a somewhat light hearted mystery with an element of humor and some romance that comes across as lackadaisical, never knowing which angle to stick with, which makes the general mood an emotionally confusing and conflicting experience for a viewer. It's a film where the music acts as another character--sometimes distracting, sometimes getting the job done--to do the talking over panned shots that capture the rustic scenery of Italy that "The Tourist" primarily takes place in.

A woman named Elise (Jolie) is related to an investigation by the Financial Crimes Division of the Scotland Yard and in turn is being followed by agents wherever she goes in Europe. She receives a letter from a past lover named Alexander Pearce who she hasn't seen for over two years due to laying low after stealing billions of dollars (or millions of British pounds) from a gangster named Reginald Shaw who deals in businesses of vice such as casinos and brothels. Pearce, who reportedly had plastic surgery, tells her to find a man that looks similar in build, as others don't know what his new face looks like, to use as a distraction so Elise and him can finally meet up again and take off. While on a train destined for Venice, she picks a tourist that catches her eye. Apart from being bashful, Frank Tupelo (Depp) is a math teacher from Wisconsin despite his odd accent who reads spy novels and is more brain than suave. He lost his wife to a car crash three years earlier and is looking to rekindle a relationship, and what better way to do that than with a stunning woman who compliments himself, as he's honest and reserved, and she's sophisticated yet confident.

The Yard realized the ruse from a quick background check and let the dogs off of Frank, yet Shaw hears that Frank might actually be Alexander from a tipster going on old information and still places a bounty on him. Shaw surrounds himself with Russian henchmen and with his wealth pays off a few people to get ahold of Frank. This leads to a few chases--one involves a roof top and another a boat--but the amount of action scenes in this film can be counted on one hand. Even so, the tone feels up and down and has its moments of plodding along as it shoots inconsequential scenes and scenarios while the characters don't always feel like a solid part of the framework. The shots of the scenery and the bombastic score over top seem like they're more imposing than the human interaction at times.

Jolie isn't stretching very far outside of her range, as she acts more as a staggering presence who's seductive and elegant, not to mention secretive, while giving subtle looks and gestures to maintain the enigma. For the most part Depp surprisingly plays it normal and held back. The police and lower gangsters, despite some well-known names such as Paul Bettany and Timothy Dalton, feel like they play their parts evenly with nothing extra to remember them by. Steven Berkoff gets a chance to shine somewhat by bringing some distinguishable and compelling elements to the role of Shaw. The movie has a final twist, though the problem is prior to that it wasn't able to maintain a firm command even if the viewer gets a little reward for the wait.

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others)
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff
Website: IMDB

REVIEW: Taking Lives (2004)

Director: DJ Caruso

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke

Website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364045/

This was really dull and contrived. Angelina Jolie was supposed to be a secret agent in this? Could have fooled me. She acts about as secret agent-ish as a love-sodden high school girl most of the time in this movie. I couldn't believe that performance for two seconds. Ethan Hawke does a good job, but the writing is just all around shoddy, and provides little in the ways of interesting moments. The story moves sluggishly through various cliches and hoops of the detective-serial killer movie genre, and while some parts are interesting, I was never really sold on this. Gena Rowlands was pretty interesting as the mother of the killer the cops are chasing, but she's really not given her due in terms of captivating scenes, and so mostly it's just kind of a waste. There are some interesting plot points here and there, like a few of the chase scenes and some of the deceptive thrills, and there is at least an attempt at atmosphere made, but the writing is just poor, with very little interesting dialogue and very few scenes that really make you sit up and pay attention. This isn't necessarily awful, but it does not really engage you at all, and there are honestly just so many other, better movies you could be watching, so why waste your time with this anyway?

Review: Salt (2010) TH

Who needs pepper when you've got Salt?

Usher in another super-trained movie like "The Bourne Identity," where the action is constant, over the top and swiftly moves from one kinetic reflex to the other with only a fraction of a second to think in between.

Agent Salt (Jolie) works for the C.I.A. On her way out of a day's work with home life on her mind, a Russian defector walks in. Salt approaches with arms crossed while he's tested with high tech lie detectors and sophisticated fact checks. Without sending off any red flags, he tells a story about an elaborate training program designed to infiltrate the U.S. with Russian spies. It started with the assassination Kennedy, though this time the goal is to take out the Russian president. Is this guy loopy or just stuck in the Cold War days, or what? At the close, he names Evelyn Salt, his interrogator, as the spy. Her boss Ted (Liev Schreiber) vouches for her innocence, while the other head-honcho Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) plays it by the book and wants her in custody till things are cleared up. She can't get ahold of her loving husband Mike--a German national who got her out of a rut in North Korea two years earlier--and makes a break for it and goes on the run like "The Fugitive" meets a female version of "XXX."

The action happens like a linear videogame as it feels rehearsed and formulaic, than being unpredictable and truly challenging. Salt has an uncannily high level of intuition to the point of being God-like instead of some hundred-something-pound person made out of flesh and blood. She'll easily jump on and off high speeding trucks on the highway like she's Spider-Woman or her bones are grafted from steel. Taking an early leave off a moving subway train isn't a stretch, neither is getting into multiple car accidents without being the least bit phased. You're supposed to suspend your disbelief because they flash some credentials on a computer screen and talk about past training. It does have a constant traction forward with a thriller-like pacing as something is always at her disposal to use or manipulate.

Salt's time on the run gets deeper and deeper and more and more conspiratorial. Tables get turned, traitors become uncovered and human lives are mowed through like freshly cut grass. Where audiences thought "The Hunt for Red October" was the last of its kind, we get pretty a spy popping up in real-life news stories after getting caught in the millennium. Though unintentional to capitalizing on the newly found panic, this picture never lets up from being a movie, one that's all about cinematic entertainment at its most primal element, enough to add twists and turns without confusion as the script could probably be read in a single visit to the loo. Getting the viewer to think is only incidental and not necessarily a direct result as everything is already laid out with suspenseful music, fast paced setups and quick edits; half the time Jolie puts on a stone-faced expression and the other is more exciting when she lets loose with a grimace. A large portion of the action in "Salt" is like a piece of toast that's smoothed over with butter but missing the crunch. As exaggerated as it is, the showdown it built up to was definitely a clencher and kept the thrills consistent to the very end instead of coping out with a typical wrapped-up Hollywood finish.

Director: Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, The Bone Collector, Catch a Fire)
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Website: IMDB