The Tourist : So at what point did you know? SPOILERS

I diddn't know anything about this movie before seeing it so I wasn't looking for a twist but some some things caught my attention.

1) When the tourist first gets attacked in the hotel bedroom the morning after the kiss he scales across some roof tops and balconies without any hesitation. While this diddn't give it away to me I thought it to be a bit strange for a teacher.

2) When the crime boss kingpin strangles one of his men, I got the feeling that it was pretty cliché and to not expect much in the way of intelligence form the movie.

3) I only guessed it was him when he excaped from the police at the end and the head police guy kept saying he will turn up.

So when did you guess it was him?

When Frank/Alexander stayed in Venice after she told him to leave. You could sense the "change" in the character.

Yes, The character did change but Elise did 't seem to notice. When he really changed was when he escaped the police and entered the hotel to save Elise still she didn't seem to see it. But his whole demeanor changed I think it would have been really hard to be a plain tourist when he was actually an international playboy. I think Johnny did a great job with playing both.


"Close your eyes and pretend it is all a dream, that's how I get by."

The possibility entered my mind when the Scotland Yard guy (can't remember his name) starts joking to Frank about how he 'knows' he is Alexander whose undergone plastic surgery. It occurred to me then that this would be an excellent plot twist but I had no idea that it was actually the case...when he walked in claiming to be Alexander and was planning to open the safe for Shaw...that's when I thought it was a likely possibility...even though I still wasn't absolutely certain.

Honestly, I knew he was Alexander Pierce after the letter told her to be on a specific train and to find someone who could pass as him. It's an old formula for these types of movies and this one did not stray from that formula.

Me too. They were still on the train and I said to my bff "I bet it really is him."

The moment she met Frank on the train, I got up and wrote "Depp IS Alexander Pearce" on a piece of paper - then gave it to my fiancee at the end of the film.


"The dead do not suffer the living to pass"
"You will suffer me"

I knew when I saw the huge green ring he was wearing.

I do that with movies sometimes too. I did it with The Sixth Sense and a recent movie whose name escapes me. Unfortunately knowing/suspecting the "twist" usually robs me of my ability to enjoy the movie. There's no suspense if you know what's going to happen.



I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially since I rule.

I havent seen the film and I knew

"...I'm a contradiction"

I 99% sure it was him when i saw johhny in te 1st nightmare on elm street.
But was 110% certain after seeing him in scissorhands

LMAO!!!!!

Formerly EmpatheticSympathy

Stolman's answer cracked me up. Nothing wrong with smart@$$es who are genuinely hilarious.

http://themortalcreeps.weebly.com/

because Johnny Depp wouldn't be casted as just a... tourist. I knew from the beginning.

as with a lot of people I suspected he might be from early on, just because that's the sort of twist these sorts of thrillers like.

I was reasonably sure around half way through, AJ asks him to moor the boat and the camera lingers on a shot of him expertly tying a certain kind of knot with the rope ... seemed to be deliberately illustrating he was an experienced sailor which his teacher background hadn't suggested.

because Johnny Depp wouldn't be casted as just a... tourist. I knew from the beginning.

Yep, that was my nagging suspicion as well. As well as he acted the part, I couldn't buy Depp as a math teacher from Wisconsin. Just couldn't.

Everyone keeps saying how brilliant Depp was as a tourist but he certainly was NOT a math teacher from Wisconsin. I realize Depp has a weird European-like accent now and he clearly made no effort to attempt a Wisconsin accent. And the name of Frank Tupelo was obviously fake. Not doing any touristy things but instead going along with everything this woman did was fishy as well. I probably would have paid more attention to Depp's identity had I never been to Venice. I knew there was no pretty scenery on a train ride into Venice and that the Venice airport is nowhere close. I laughed out loud when I saw a huge commercial airliner supposedly smack in the middle of the city. Those discrepancies threw me off so I blew off the problems with Depp's character.

But did I think at any point that he was really Pearce? Nope. Just seemed too lame of a "twist" to be believable. Don't really believe it now! I've created my own twist in which Depp's character is only pretending to be Pearce to get the money and the girl. My assumption that Pearce is dead. Remember that it was presumed that Pearce would come get her. I don't think Depp was cold-hearted enough to actually kill him. Perhaps Pearce contracted a terminal disease and revealed the code to his safe on his deathbed. Depp lured the girl there to convince her it was really Pearce with plastic surgery. Did he do it of his own free will or did Pearce pay him to pretend as some creepy way to control his woman from the grave? Doesn't matter. Depp gets the money and the girl. Happy ending...

The people you idolize wouldn't like you.

I considered it (but hoped they wouldn't do something so clichéd) as soon as they mentioned that he may have had a lot of very expensive plastic surgery :( but while I also briefly considered that Elise may have really been the thief and Alexender was just a decoy (or at least a significant other that had gone into hiding to throw them off her trail) I knew for certain as soon as Rufus Sewell's character was first off screen long enough for us to stop caring about him and start wanting Frank to have a chance of being with Elise...after about 15mins I'd say-the whole thing was a real disappointment in general but some of the gags weren't completely awful...

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hypocritelunaticfanaticheretic
It's almost never Lupus

"That's a terrible name."
"It's the only one I've got."
"We'll have to find you another..."



"My nose was chiseled by the gods themselves..."
-Dennis, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I actually thought "what if Alexander is actually Depp" from the very beginning, but then dismissed it. I just thought that would be the big twist for the film, but decided to ignore it. I even dismissed it after hearing the woman's voice (possibly Jolie's) reading the letters instead of Pierce. I thought it odd that it wouldn't do a mans voice and then thought it was Depp again but dismissed that too.. I, from then on, didn't think about it because I didn't think about the extreme plastic surgery. I could've still thought it was him if Elise didn't play into his character so much or drop him off at the airport, but he just did an amazingly convincing job at hiding his true identity.. Should've stuck with my first instinct!

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I am not horsing around, okay? I am porsching around.

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I'm completely with you. Before watching the movie, I thought about "what would I do to make this movie interesting" so yet, I thought it was him from the beginning, and observing Angela's character dismissed it. As a watcher I felt let down and would expect to be able to watch it again and be able to notice clues, but alas I didn't.

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Personally, I blame MTV.

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I had the same suspicions. I began to think that maybe he was Pierce and then I did a mini review in my mind to see if there were any tells that disqualified him from that possibility. The more I realized the movie was protecting that option the more I began to suspect that as the outcome.

When they were still on the train. The most transparent "twist" in recent memory.

As soon as Elise received the letter telling her to look for someone with the same approximate build, I thought they might go that route. I really hoped they wouldn't, as the chances of her picking him out of an entire train full of men would be too far outside of the realm of believability, but there you go. That's moviemaking for you!

The scene where he's offered a ride from Elise on her boat. I mean, she's attractive and all, but I'd at least ask a question or two. He doesn't even blink. That's when I suspected it.

I...drink...your...MILKSHAKE!

I DRINK IT UP!!!

From my review:

"...the su*B*tle (read obvious) transformation of Depp's
character of Frank into Alex precisely when he's walking in the white
tux smoking a real cigarette into the invite only Ball (was 'I'm a jealous husband' seriously the best excuse he could come up with?)..."

That scene was when I remembered that Jolie and Depp are the only two 'title' characters of the movie, and realised that this far in there was no chance of a last minute 'surprise' character being revealed at the end.

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That scene was when I remembered that Jolie and Depp are the only two 'title' characters of the movie, and realised that this far in there was no chance of a last minute 'surprise' character being revealed at the end.

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What about the Interpol guy who let Reginald know Alex was back?

I...drink...your...MILKSHAKE!

I DRINK IT UP!!!

You mean the bureaucrat not doing his job properly? He asked (through a prodding statement) the profiler if that was Alex, but the profiler didn't tell him that it *wasn't* Alex, so he just ran with the assumption that it was him to make himself useful to his boss. He certainly wasn't high enough in the chain to be clued into the fact that the case was suspended.

I saw this thread title before I saw the movie and pretty much when she received the first letter, it became blindly obvious - I know, I should've stayed off this board but oh well

Having said that, I knew there a twist in Shutter Island but I couldn't for the life in me work it out until it was revealed!

Not until Elise realised! Jeez I am slow..

Life's like a cow, milk it for all it's worth.

I knew when I watched "Anthony Zimmer"--the French film upon which this film is based! LOL

When she met him in the train.


"Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege."

Know? Not until the end. I thought so early, but then he got nabbed by the police. Fingerprints would have given him away, and as far as I know, no surgery can change your fingerprints. Therefore, it had to NOT be him. Unfortunately, I was trying to apply real-world logic to movie-world logic...

When they were in the hotel and he diverted her attention to the flowers. It just made me think he wants her to see them and the invite to the ball. That's when that thought entered my head, and I couldn't wait for confirmation so I went to wikipedia and 'spoilt' (in the loosest sense of the word) it for myself.


http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21084846

i suspected it very early. It was so obvious there would be a big plot twist and all signs pointed to the tourist really being Alexander.

Well I knew it all along having been familiar with the story; but within the movie itself, I think he gave himself away to the audience during the boat chase scene. He was a little too quick-witted and decisive for a math teacher.

As a math teacher, I'm going to take exception to that remark! :)

My best friend and I were watching, she figured out it out when Elise gets the note then walks past Rufus Sewell's character. She told me, when the movie was over, that she had thought R.S. was a friend of Pierce's meant to make sure Elise got the note and made it to the train. I figured out Frank was Pierce when he's leaving the train car and stops at the door to watch Elise. A man who just met someone like her might look back a little confused or maybe look back as if considering going back and talking to her just a little while longer before changing his mind. Frank was looking at her the way you look at someone you haven't seen in years and you aren't sure how they'll take knowing your back in town, so your allowing yourself that moment to just observe them and delaying the possible bad-ending you suspect is coming. There was a longing and guilt in his eyes, it wouldn't be there in a stranger's eyes.

"There is still hope." - Arwen

I didn't know until the very end. Johnny played the dimwitted math teacher to such perfection, that I think HE didn't even know he was supposed to be Alexander Pearce until the moment they shot that part of the script. There's a lot of dumb stuff that he does (even when alone) that made it feel like he was trying to fool the audience, even when there was no one else around to fool. It feels like the "twist" ending was just tacked on, regardless of what happened up to that point in the movie.

That is why he is considered such a good actor. He has said that the twist in the script is what attracted him to he role. This was based on an earlier European movie with the same premise so the twist was always in the script.

I knew the moment he uttered a "sorry" when she sat down. I know it was meant as a "can I help you" but the use of the word just gave it away right there.

Half life wastes before it goes- Sneaker Pimps

I'm pleased to say I had no idea - I was pretty happy with all the twists and turns and really liked the film. I'd been having a pretty crappy start to the new year and so thought i'd go see a movie - i left in such a good mood - very pleasently suprised by this movie. :-)

Do you have monkeys in Scotland?
~No, but if we did we'd probably deep fry them!

I didn't know until the end, either. The whole movie I felt so bad for Frank having met this crazy woman. What a ruined vacation!

"Know" is a pretty strong word, I think. I can say I knew it from the preview and moreso from the first letter because, at that point, I had a pretty good idea and my pretty good ideas usually pan out. I knew it as much as anybody could without confirmation. By the end of the film I hoped for it to be true more than I knew it to be true, really. It was the only way it could end happy for everyone.

when Johnny Depp came back from the airport (ballroom scene)

When I hit "play"

I clearly saw the twist coming, but very near the end. Either when he disappeared from the van or when he walked into the room, somewhere around there.

The moment she sat with him on the train I started suspecting but I would change my mind several times during the movie. It didn't really feel like a twist to me because I was sort of expecting it.

I guessed as soon as angelina jolie read the letter telling her to look for someone of her husband's hight and build... and by the time she got onto the train I was seriously supecting it. However, I was thrown off a couple of times. eg. during scenes where depp is alone in a room and isn't doing anything different to his "math" teacher persona.