So, here we have the $100 Million budgeted supposed to be blockbuster with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.  Filmed almost entirely in Venice, this wanna be action/thriller was supposed to be a throwback to the glory years of cinema, when glamor was something people actually went to the cinema to see.

I don't know what to say exactly.  I didn't dislike or hate this, but I also can't really say that I liked it, either.

It does feel like a throwback in many ways.  It is glamorous, and there are big set-pieces and some good action scenes.  Lots of twists as well.

But it's also rather goofy and cliche at times.  There seems to be both too much going on and not enough at the same time.  The threat never seems believable and our 2 Protags never seem to be in real peril because of that.

Johnny Depp sure looks different here...especially when we first meet him on the train.  He looks better as the movie goes on, but quite different than we're used to seeing him.  In many scenes, i couldn't believe how much he resembles Motley Crue's Vince Neil, with his bloated face, scruffy hair and beard, and constant dark eye liner (is that permanent, or what?).  His character is a tough one to figure out, even when it's all said and done.

Does the plot really make any sense?  Is it even remotely feasible...as in Hollywood believable?  Well...it may be barely as we go along, but by the end, it becomes clear that, no, it's not, but it probably doesn't even matter at that point.  I think maybe this is what wrecked havoc with the critics and gave it so much bad word of mouth.

This thing bombed here in the states with a $68 Million Box Office, but the $210 Million from over seas, turned this into a money maker...at least it seems like it was based on WWBO returns, but who really knows these days?

When it's all said and done, it appears that maybe this wasn't really meant to be taken entirely seriously, and many IMDB threads suggest that as well.  Maybe it wasn't marketed quite right.  Maybe it was packaged properly?

Anyways, I don't see this appealing to the younger generation.  If you're over 40, I think it may work for you, but it's far from great, any way you look at it, but it also doesn't deserve all the bad press it got either.

Yeah...

You may forgot this movie five minutes after you finish it, but at least it's got lots of pretty, nicely photographed things to look at.  

Peters out around the middle and stays petered out for the remainder of the film.  Displays a total lack of commitment to a premise (revealed late in the film but hinted at throughout) that wasn't particularly effective in the original film anyway.

At the very least, though, pleasant, light, breezy, etcetera.  You're almost certain to not have a bad time, but you're dead certain to feel that you wasted time.  Kind of a "bubble bath" of a movie, if you will.

Yeah, watched this tonight.

I think the lads above have been rather kind to this one.  At one point it felt like an old Cary Grant film, you know, smooth, dependable, not deep but comfortable. Like your favourite jumper.

It only lasted a short while.

I can't understand how they can come up with such weak plots, thin characters and just unbeleiveable premise. The end had no reality... At all.

I must be getting old and grumpy.

The idea of a film with style, really appeals, but it was so short of everything else. Even the action scenes, such as the one across the roof tops, started out fine, then clearly went into a film set, then back out. So poor.

I'm clearly still old and grumpy. Shame, it had potential.

Hated this one. It was one of those films that my parents put on so i decided to be a good son  and watch it with them. good lord, do i regret it. the plot was incredibly predictable that it ruined the entire film. seriously, a third grader could have guessed the ending.

is it me or does depp just suck as of late?

I hated this movie. I sat there forcing myself to watch it, because I paid to see it. The trailer looked interesting and well, it had the stars in it....but the story was very unspecial, totally unmemorable and nothing hardly happened for a supposed to be action/thriller. Ugh.

Speaking of Depp, I think he is sucking as of late also. I saw Rum Diary the other day and I hated that, too. I'm like, what are you thinking!

I was appalled at the total lack of chemistry between Jolie and Depp.
The film managed to save face with the worldwide boxoffice.

It shocked me how the script practically did everything to avoid entanglement.
Depp and Jolie couldn't have been set up any worse by the script.
So many chances to give them sparks were left neglected.

The travelogue element and photography were nice, but that's all I got out of it.

E.D.