Turistas (2006)★★★☆☆

I was considering going with something holiday appropriate like The Stepfather but it was hot and I was lazy, so I ended up watching this movie instead. It’s pretty boring, which is a shame because it has such an interesting cast. I guess the cast themselves were fine – everyone was believable and earnest. I even believed that Olivia Wilde and Josh Duhamel could be brother and sister! Too bad this movie was so boring I don’t remember their character names. I think Duhamel’s character was named Alex?

I definitely don’t remember the name of Melissa George’s character, but her halting understanding of Portuguese was really well acted and (spoiler alert) is likely the reason any of them get out alive. But there’s not really a lesson here. No justice is really served for either side at the end of this as far as I can tell.

To be honest, a movie like this isn’t going to dissuade me from vacationing in Brazil any more than a movie like Hostel is going to dissuade me from vacationing in Europe (just try and stop me!). If anything, these movies have taught me never to follow a sexy local anywhere, especially abandoned/forbidden areas. Oh, and try not to be American. Everyone hates Americans.

Ultimately this is an old tired story, and not a particularly clever take on it at that. There aren’t many scary moments but there are more than a few graphic and disturbing moments, so skip this one if you get squeamish. It’s paced okay and has some beautiful scenery so it’s ideal for background noise on a hot summer day (quite like the one we had here today) and not much else.