- Story -

A US high school math teacher by the name of Frank Tupelo is picked out by a secret undercover agent (who may or may not be on the governments side) while on a train ride from France to Venice, Italy. He's egged on by the agent, a very charming lady called Elise, who has been secretly ordered to make him a decoy so that the bad guys will be taken off the real scent and will think that Frank is Elise's partner who owes them alot of money. Frank doesn't realise what he's got himself into and soon due to this mistaken identity he ends up in Venice with a bounty over his head, in mortal danger. Can he survive this holiday? what are Elise's true motives and will the undercover agents manage to find Elise's partner? you'll have to watch the movie to find out.


- Thoughts & Opinions -

The title says it all - the main memory I have from this movie is that its all about Angelina Jolie, who very much plays the Femme Fatale in her role as one of the two main characters. She doesn't say all that much, instead its all about the body language and facial expressions, though you'd be surprised that she can make many expressions, guessing that she may use facial injections such as botox to help keep her looking youthful. She does seem almost annoyingly perfect in this movie though, so if you don't like her then this might annoy you lol I've seen a few movies which star Jolie in a main role but none where she's portrayed as such a strong femme fatale type character, I think.

The story is rather cheesy and predictable but yet its not really about the story, its more a movie you watch to entertain and pass the time really. It has elements of comedy about it, with quite a few somewhat subtle jokes mainly relating to said tourist, the rather clueless American who's made out to be really quite stupid, or more ignorant I suppose - maybe this is why the movie was panned by US critics, it doesn't show US tourists in a good light lol the main mistake he repeatedly makes is speaking a few sentences in Spanish, apparently not realising that it s the wrong language lol. In this movie, Depp appears as a more average, even slightly bedraggled character - he's not exactly Jack Sparrow but then that would be too surreal if he was, wouldn't it? lol im sure Depp fans will still enjoy the movie for his presence in it but Jolie undoubtedly commands more of a screen presence, which is ironic given the name of the movie.

Anyway, yes, Mr Tupelo is a rather, dare I say boring and clueless man *at times* (not always but sometimes - he does look somewhat dashing in some scenes later on in the movie going by memory), who is a bit slow to realise quite whats happening. Speaking of that, I found it hard to believe that he just went along with what happened, especially when he's told to follow Elise to join her at the hotel - he never really asks what exactly is going on, why he's being invited to join her at the hotel and given that he clearly doesn't know her, I can only presume that his hinted love of spy novels and his somewhat nonchalant nature tells him to just go with the flow and shrug off the obvious questions that you and I would have if this were to happen to us. In a way this is good for such a movie, in that I suppose it makes it alot more fun to watch, I guess its something that we all might wish would happen, that we go on what could be a bit of a run of the mill holiday and suddenly things take a serious turn and we end up in the middle of some big adventure - I know as a child I used to wish that I could go on some big adventure, have something exciting happen to me, though I can't say I'd like the idea of having to run for my life with a bounty on my head but the movie is certainly exciting enough and I suppose Franks bumbling type nature makes you feel sorry for him moreso than you might do otherwise. Lets face it, if there's no real character connection, an interest in any of the main characters that makes us feel some kind of empathy for them, then whats the point? the movie has failed but I think I did feel sorry for him in parts and as the movie continued and the twists and turned panned out, it certainly kept me entertained.

The movie is almost worth seeing just for the aerial photography, with some pretty great shots of Venice, it was quite impressive seeing it on the big screen. The performances are all decent enough, Depp playing Frank Tupelo and Paul Bettany who portrays Scotland Yard inspector John Acheson (who is also somewhat of a bumbling character in a way lol) giving particularly good performances, as far as I'm concerned, though others may disagree but their characters are the two that come to mind first. Its quite amusing to see the reaction of the undercover agents to whats happening - not everything goes to plan, it would be safe to say! its also true that there's a twist at the end of the movie, although if you take the film too seriously then the ending might leave you feeling somewhat robbed but then the movie is just a bit of fun really - its really not one to be over analysed or thought through in too much detail.

The movie is a good length at about an hour and 40 minutes and going back to the ending, you don't realise that its approached until the credits start to roll really as it looks like the story has taken a new twist and that a new scene is about to start any second but instead the credits roll, so I was taken by surprise that the film had actually ended when it did. I didn't feel overly bored or fed up of the movie while it was on as it was quite amusing with some mystery and action/thriller segments that kept me distracted and wanting to watch to see what the eventual outcome was.


- Would I Recommend It? -

This movie is a bit of a mish mash of a few genres and it has its flaws, yet its not really awful either, it definitely passes the time and there are one or two particularly memorable performances, I feel. I don't think I'd specifically recommend this as its not a movie I'd say is particularly great as a mystery thriller or as an action comedy, though it definitely has elements of all of those genres. Its worth renting but otherwise, its not a big loss if you don't catch it really - its not a really awful movie but its not truly great either.

Thanks for reading my review, I hope you found it useful and thanks, as ever, for any and all r/r/c's. This review was originally posted on Ciao UK under the same username.