Turistas is apparently meant to be another
Hostel, and while it's never as good as that film,
it's still an effective thriller at times.
Three young, attractive Americans are traveling
in Brazil by bus when an accident leaves them stranded in the
middle of nowhere. At a bar on a beach, they meet up with some
more young, attractive people from Sweden and Australia, and
two Brits. After a night of dancing and drinking, they awake
on the beach to find all of their belongings gone and the two
Swedes missing. After a misunderstanding in a nearby village
forces them to flee for their own safety, Kiko, a local they
met at the bar, promises to take them to his uncle's house in
the jungle, where they'll be safe until the next bus comes.
They soon discover that things are not quite what they seem.
Director John Stockwell (Blue Crush, Into
the Blue) follows his usual formula involving young, attractive
people, but although the basic plot is formulaic, he injects
some genuinely creepy atmosphere into the film that sustains
it until the third act, when it starts to fall apart. The script
by Michael Ross presents characters with a little more depth
than in the usual exploitation fare and the film allows us to
get to know them at some length, and the villain is given an
interesting motivation, but the script also undercuts the suspense
at times by revealing the villain too early and showing that
a certain character is working for him. Also, for a film trying
to be another Hostel, the violence is too restrained.
The lead actors are surprisingly solid and make
the characters likable, particularly Josh Duhamel and Olivia
Wilde as American siblings, Melissa George as a gorgeous Australian,
Desmond Askew in a humorous turn as one of the Brits, and Agles
Steib as Kiko. However, Miguel Lunardi is unconvincing as the
villain.
Turistias is best saved for a video rental,
but if you like these kind of films, it's certainly worth a
viewing.
