I know that there’s another movie out now about deja vu, but for some reason I can’t help but feel that I’ve seen this movie before; several times. That was my sly way of saying that this movie is yet another in a line of “thriller” movies that is turning away from the intent of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats to making the audience want cookies (get it? cookies? Because it’s a cookie-cutter movie! What? Oh, um, cookie cutter is a term used to describe a set plan or outline that is followed over and over again ad nauseum while the creators always hope that people will stay interested, like duplexes in the suburbs).
We’ve seen this scenario before: Foreigners go on vacation where they are preyed upon by locals with their own agendas, some die, some live, that’s about it. Turistas is no different. We’ve seen it before in Hostel (and I assume the upcoming Hostel 2 ), and before that with Wolf Creek . If you were to just go with the vacation thing you could include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes (1977 not 2006, please for the love of god don’t see the latter or the *vomiting noise* sequel). The fact is that there is no originality here. In fact, if you’ve seen the trailer you already know what’s happening in about 80% of the movie. I can actually go over the first hour or so and you won’t be slighted in the least, so I think that I will.
The movie opens with three Americans: Alex (Josh Dumhamel of Vegas fame) his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde of nothing I like), and her best friend Amy (Beau Garrett of stuff, I guess) are on vacation in Brazil when the bus that they are riding has an accident and they are forced to go to the beach and drink and swim and other ghastly things that good Republicans would never do. From there they get drunk, drugged and robbed. People don’t like them and don’t help them and they are forced to romp through the jungle, barefoot (I don’t even like going bare-footed on the tile in the morning) to a house that may be a form of refuge while they, uh, magically get their passports back, I guess.
Once there they proceed to go through every door and cabinet on their way to making themselves at home in a foreign country in a house that may or may not house someone that will help them. Such thoughts are quickly dismissed, if considered at all, as they help themselves to clean clothes, food, 20 year old scotch and some wine. Really? Uh… really? Well, I suppose that if I were to actually go somewhere that didn’t use a Mid-West accent, in the middle of the forest, with no money, passport or shoes, I would think that any house that I came across should give up it’s spoils in order to make me drunk and comfortable. Screw any Brazilian that tells me otherwise! Though they are geniuses with their use of wax.
So here’s the thing. It’s not really that bad of a movie. In fact, if Hostel and Wolf Creek had never been made, there would be a certain degree of originality with this movie, but since that isn’t the case, this movie is just the newest in what I can only hope isn’t a very long line in movies that seem to be geared towards Americans not going anywhere. The message seems to be “stay home and watch movies about what happens to your friends that want to have fun in beautiful countries” (note: for the purposes of this review the Czech Republic is a beautiful country).
How does it rate: well, it’s really not that bad. The acting is about what you would expect. Of course, there weren’t any real surprises, the script is par at best, the one example of CGI in the movie looks like it was done on an iMac, and the cinematography is spotty. Having said that, if you haven’t seen either Hostel or Wolf Creek you will appreciate the foreign land and the feeling of loss that the characters go through. If you have seen those two movies, you will be a bit bored. 2 out of 5. It’s just not that promising in the second-viewing department.
