eeds Salt!
Swift shot: Average, not spectacular, not as clever nor coy as Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck believes. Under-cooked, left me wanting more, made me pine for Europe – but a film needs more substance to stand out as better than decent. Doubt it will leave a mark.
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie star in this postcard of Europe, set against an intriguing international game of cat and mouse with a sly, albeit, somewhat predictable end-game. Depp stars as Frank Tupelo, an American tourist who lives on spy novels and has recently faced a personal tragedy in the U.S. Determined to leave those memories behind, he visits Europe and happens to be on the wrong, or right, train headed from Paris to Venice where he meets Elise Ward (Jolie).
She is on orders from her lover, Alexander, whose last communique with her was to pick someone on the train that looks like Andre to throw the authorities off his track. See, Alexander has done something really stupid, he stole 2.4 billion dollars from a vicious gangster, Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff) and both Interpol and Shaw want him for different reasons. One thing no one knows is what Alexander looks like, so picking The Man With One Red Shoe (for those familiar) he hopes to keep the pursuers at bay and keep tabs on Elise from a safe vantage point, essentially baiting the mouse trap with some other cheese, hapless Frank.
Depp and Jolie manage to feed off of each other fairly well, but because they are such big stars, at times the back and forth had no real emotion. I have to say, Depp pulled his weight better than Jolie, who at times looked like a little girl playing pretend, not acting. I think she is a fine actress, her performance in Changeling still impresses the hell out of me, so maybe this role just wasn’t for her. Acting is a fine art, as is casting, too much spice in the sauce and no one wants to eat the meal, Depp and Jolie are gonna put butts in seats, and the story is fine but not spliced together to create an overall great film.
The film has a nice romantic feel to it overall, nothing too over-the-top, it was getting close a few times but not quite roll your eyes hoaky romance, subtle enough to be obvious that the director’s intent was to place you in a romantic setting without rubbing your nose in it. But, where the film really flat-lined was in the overall cohesion of the characters. Bits and pieces were tossed into the pot, but, you don’t get a beautiful meal, it’s like a good meal that needs a little more seasoning.
If you are really into Jolie or Depp or absolutely love international mysteries, check this one out, but if you are wanting to see a great film and really want your money’s worth, I say rent this one in a few months. The cinematography is grandiose at times, but the film won’t suffer anything being viewed on the small screen.
Not sure they put the people in the seats for this one.
As I say in my review: there's two movies here – one that's boring and slow and one that's patient and calculated. Depending on knowing one thing, you're watching one or the other.
SPOILER
I think since most people missed that Frank is Alexander, they watch the former movie and don't like it. I wdn't either. But knowing that, and knowing they both are "in on it" the dialogue becomes something else: "we have to full accept this is who Frank is now and see if we can love each other." Much better movie.
Thanks!
I knew the minute they referenced Janus, and I suspected the WHOLE time, because I know Depp likes to do those kind of "twist" films occasionally – and he was due. To me, it was more a postcard for Europe and neither actor brought their A-Game. Glad to have an intelligent antagonist for our reviews, for a laugh, look at the Tangled comments. 🙂
This movie was nominated for Best Picture Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes! That seems to have a lot of people scratching their heads. I didn't even realize this was supposed to be a comedy. Was it, Rick?
There was a great barefoot rooftop chase scene too!