The Tourist Script Review

Published by Jeff Leins on February 20, 2010

After a few personnel shifts, The Tourist is starting production next week without the likes of once-attached Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron, or Sam Worthington.  Instead, the film will mark the long-awaited pairing of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp for Spyglass Entertainment’s remake of the French thriller Anthony Zimmer.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director of the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, is set to direct his first studio film, but before production gets underway in Venice I thought we’d take a look at the script by Julian Fellowes, who won an Oscar of his own for writing Gosford Park.

Jolie plays Cara, an elegant beauty who captures the attention of all men.  Her talents begin and end with talking and looking sexy, so don’t expect much from Jolie’s performance other than what already comes natural.  Though as the seductive lead and the only intriguing character throughout, it’s not a bad part for the star actress.

She’s the stunning lady friend of Alexander Pearce, an international thief and cunning numbers man  who managed to make off with $744 million in unpaid taxes.  Explained through Powerpoint slides in a joint task force conference room, Pearce’s scheme was essentially laundering money through the Cayman Islands, which has never been done before…

This cliché crime has made Pearce an assortment of global enemies ranging from a coalition of government agencies to a particularly angry Russian mobster named Ivan Demidov.  To elude a lifetime in prison or a bullet in the back of his head, Pearce undergoes “extensive plastic surgery” to change his appearance, like some kind of cheap James Bond villain.

Representatives from the various effected countries are virtually interchangeable, a blurred-together team of one-dimensional trackers with laminates.  Even Ackerman, who is described as “Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive,” is the hackneyed Ahab type, barking orders and stalking his elusive prey.

In order to throw off the authorities tailing her, Cara uses someone with a similar build to Pearce as a decoy.  Enter the title character, an innocent American traveler named Frank (Depp) now mixed up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.  The government agents, Demidov’s henchmen, and especially Frank all mistake her flirtations for genuine affection and soon he’s the target.

After setting him up as the mark, Cara ditches Frank to fend for himself against Demidov’s goons.  This means foot chases through Venice streets, Bourne style building jumping, and a squealing tire escape through a crowded parking garage.

Soon Frank is picked up by officials who fill in the details on why Russians are going through all the trouble to kill him.  When Cara conveniently resurfaces he’s full of questions like “Why didn’t you tell me?” and “Where is this Pearce guy?”   If Frank wasn’t the typical dumb American before, he’s clearly clueless now.

The finale and the “big reveal” of Pearce could use an overhaul.  The twist is obvious (to me any way) and the “unmasking” reminded me of a cheesy Scooby Doo ending.  “I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you pesky kids!”  It doesn’t seem like a swerve cleverly conceived from start to finish, so it’s not likely to get much more of a reaction than, “Oh, it was him?  All right.”  It won’t have people talking or comparing him to Keyser Soze just shrugs of indifference and puzzling over the leaps in logic.

Without a strong third act, the script reads like a spy romance novel and a cheap Jason Bourne knock-off.  There are sultry exchanges, multiple chase scenes, and a shootout or two, but the action seems familiar and the mystery leads no where.  Based on the script version I read, The Tourist appears to be a disappointment in the making.  How did such talented people get involved?