The Tourist Movie Review

The Tourist
U/A; Drama/Action
Dir: Florian Henkel Von Donnersmarck
Cast: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton

The film begins with the financial crimes unit of Scotland Yard trailing Elise Ward (Angelina Jolie), the most beautiful, confident, and well-attired woman in the world.  Possessing the beauty of a goddess and a look that screams “I will never have sex with you,” Elise is trying to throw the cops off her trail so that they’ll stop chasing her husband, Alexander Pierce, a mob banker who stole billions from his boss.  The British government is in on the chase because 744 million of that amount belonged to them (why the mobster has that money is never explained).  Despite their surveillance, Pierce is still easily able to communicate with Elise through letters and he informs her that she needs to find a stranger with his height and build so that the cops (who don’t know what Pierce looks like) will trail the poor stranger.  It’s an elaborate set-up for what seems like a minor diversion.

Frank Tupelo (Depp) is the kind of tourist you wouldn't accord a second glance to in a place like Venice. Especially, if you're a woman like Elise Clifton-Ward (Jolie).

He is so plain it's almost funny. Elise, on the other hand, gets all kinds of men tongue-tied and weak-kneed in her very presence. Why pick out Frank to get flirty with on a train to Venice, then?

Sab ek soche-samjhe plan ke mutaabik ho raha hai. To cut a long story short, Elise is the lover of Alexander Pearce, a man wanted by Scotland Yard for tax evasion to the tune of billions of pounds. A man, who has changed his face and the only person with a clue, is Elise.
Her instructions are simple: lead the cops trailing her every move on a wild goose chase by making them believe that the man she met on a train is Pearce. Frank is the man she picks for the deception.The cat-and-mouse game continues to its logical or rather dil-logical conclusion.