Have you ever just sat down and found yourself enjoying a movie more than you initially realized? Sometimes I feel that way, especially when it comes to movies I know a little information about, nothing too crucial to ruin the fun, but enough to make it intriguing. Angelina Jolie and Jonny Depp in Europe, a bit of a mystery, throw in a possible romance, and a lot of expensive clothes and jewelry and you generally have yourself a merry old time. The beauty of the places you see can generally tell you the type of movie you’re going to be watching. The exoticness of it all makes it a bit tempting and I was most assuredly tempted.
The Tourist is the interesting tale of Elise Clifton-Ward, a beautiful woman who lives in Paris and is being jointly watched by the French police and Scotland Yard. Her day seems to be going as normally as possible, she wakes up, goes on a walk to her local Parisian café where her order has already been put in, and then… Well, then the fun kicks in as a letter is delivered to her by courier from her ex-lover (the reason she’s being watched by the police). With explicit instructions, despite her grievances, Elise follows through on the instructions and involves a Wisconsin math teacher as she tries to get back to her lover.
From there the plot spirals because of miscommunication, lack of professionalism, a little bit of romantic misdirection, and the Disney-esque one day love story. However, the story is far deeper than it wants you to believe, and it has more plot twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. It all makes sense one moment and then it feels like everything we knew was a lie. The twists and turns pulled me in and while I had already figured out the final twist long before the movie was over, it didn’t diminish the movie in my mind in any fashion.
I have that issue, though, sometimes things jump out at me and I figure out the plot long before we’re supposed to know it (I knew Stu Macher was crazy and that he was Ghostface, I knew it!). While the big twist was something I could figure out, the others came at me like a bullet train and I was hooked (albeit not on a feeling). I was captivated by the movie and the twists and turns made for a better ride overall and, after all, that’s the point of a good movie in my humble opinion.
I do have to add, though, that Paul Bettany is quite adorable and funny here.
Lloydd Marshall Books 