This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Strangers on a Train
Plot Overview
Wisconsin math teacher Frank Tupelo
(Johnny Depp) is escaping his mundane existence by tramping around
Europe on holiday. He is chatted up on the train from Paris to Venise “the city
of lovers” by seasoned undercover agent Elise Clifton-Ward
(Angelina Jolie) who's on suspension for having questionable loyalties
following her last assignment. She'd penetrated mob banker Stephen Pearce
who's now in hiding from his vindictive boss Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff,)
having stolen from him £2.3 billion—£24 million
of which he spent for serious plastic surgery. Interpol is also after him
for £744 million owed England in taxes. They are watching
Elise to see if he makes contact with her. They quickly rule out Frank,
but a mole inside their agency hastily fingers him to the mob boss
who sends out a hit team. Frank is clingy with this dame and finds
himself dangerously underfoot in the high intrigue. It's the
risky business of love as aptly described in a Jonathan Stone novel:
She smiles. “Love. That's clearly buyers and sellers. Short-term traders and long-term investors. Show me any moment in any relationship. Any moment of friction. Any moment of tension. I'll show you a buyer and a seller. Maybe they'll flip positions in the next moment. But in that moment, it's a buyer and a seller. Because it's a need, a want, expressed to someone who it is assumed or hoped can somehow fulfill it. That's buy and sell.” (221)
Ideology
Though these two are from different
worlds, it's hinted they have much in common should easy Elise want
a like man on the rebound. Her Pearce “smoked to excess,”
and she spots Frank smoking an e–cigarette. Pearce was a guy
who did as he pleased, and Frank has let his hair grow out past the
border of convention. We later see Pearce's apartment lined with
overflowing bookshelves, and Frank was discovered with his
nose in a book. In fact he and Elise will discuss the meanings of
similar-sounding multi-syllable words like a couple of book nerds.
Elise is to rendezvous with Pearce at a formal ball. 
Extended camera shots
have shown her sashaying down the street like a ballroom dancer.
Frank courteously helps a woman off the train with her bags, and he
maintains his balance stepping onto a moving boat, as someone
who may have developed courtesies and balance from ballroom dance.
I'm just saying don't write them off.
Of course it would be up to provincial Frank to somehow make it happen
with sophisticated Elise, but the movie reminds us of, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three
things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock;
the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with
a maid.” The hard to track “eagle in the air” is
here represented by Shaw who receives a message in flight from his
mole telling him where supposedly Pearce is heading. He speaks to
the captain telling him, “Change of course. Venice.” 
And the plane heads off in a new direction.
“The way of a serpent upon a rock” is here represented by Frank fleeing barefoot the goons sent by Shaw, running on the tiles from rooftop to rooftop. It's hard to guess his exact route, which he develops on the fly.
“The way of a ship in the midst of the sea” is here represented by Elise in a motor launch towing another boat through the canals of Venice, with Frank secured in the latter and the bad guys shooting at them from the streets.
The upshot is we're not going to figure out “the way of a man with a maid” either, if in fact Frank even has a game plan and is not just ad libbing as he goes.
Production Values
“” (2010) was directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Its screenplay was written by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Christopher McQuarrie, and Julian Fellowes. The story rotates among the baddies, the couple, and the cops, so we suppose the three writers were appropriately accommodated. It stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie as leads. It also features Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff, and Rufus Sewell. Jolie and Depp were in fine form with ambiguous chemistry until their concoction changed color. The supporting cast did well with what they'd been given. Sewell surreptitiously appears as a hovering mystery man.
MPAA rated it PG–13 for violence and brief strong language. The production values elevate this picture to very pleasurable viewing with its elegant costumes, exotic locale, and blended dance music.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
“The Tourist” has the most satisfying ending you'll find anywhere (“It'll do.”) I'm not even sure we'd want a sequel, although the bromide don't talk to strangers could use some rehabilitating. It was an exciting mystery caper if you don't mind the romance lagging behind, trying to play catchup.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Stone, Jonathan. Breakthrough. Copyright © 2013 by Jonathan Stone. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org