The Tourist review: Jamie Dornan and Danielle MacDonald make this thriller immensely watchable

4/5

Story: When an Irish man (Jamie Dornan) lands in hospital after an accident with no memory of who or what he is, he is forced to piece together clues and figure out his identity because someone wants him dead.

Review: The first time I saw the Australian outback (onscreen) and was awestruck at the miles and miles of absolute nothingness was in the 2016 series Wanted. It never ceases to amaze me, but also feels freakishly scary, which is also why the opening sequence in The Tourist is so effective. Jamie Dornan, as an unknown character at that point, driving along the outback, only to be chased down by an 18-wheel ginormous truck that eventually manages to crash right into him. When he wakes up, he is in a hospital and has amnesia, and his only hope initially is probationary constable Helen Chambers (Danielle MacDonald). As his ‘only friend’, she helps him follow the clue he has to unravelling the mystery that is him.

This clue, though, leads him to what appears to be another attempt on his life, when the diner he was asked to be at, explodes. But not before he meets and befriends one of the waitresses, Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin), with whose help he proceeds to join some of the dots about who he is and why he was in Australia. Of course, there’s Helen too, who is put through the wringer, quite literally, for aiding ‘the man with amnesia’. Will his efforts be worth it or should he have remained happily oblivious to his past?

Prior to and after The Tourist, Jamie Dornan’s had his fair share of good work, most notably, The Fall, in which he played a serial killer, among others, but it’s his 50 Shades trilogy that’s stuck on, because of which I almost didn’t want to watch The Tourist. ‘Dornan, meh’ was the first thought. But I forgot all about Christian Grey in the first 10 minutes of The Tourist. He is great as ‘The man’, but it is Danielle who quite literally walks away with the best role and the show. She is an absolute delight to watch. Shalom, Olafur Darri Olafsson, as the mercenary Billy, Damon Herriman as rogue major crimes division agent Lachlan, among others, are perfect foils to Dornan’s ‘The man’.

The great cast and story apart, it’s the telling of this tale that’s it’s biggest highlight. If you were expecting a dry and grim thriller based on the trailer and Jamie’s bearded and bruised look, you couldn’t be more wrong. This is quite the fun ride, with a helluva lot of bloodshed too.

Verdict: Originally a BBC One drama that is now streaming on Lionsgate Play, The Tourist is just as much fun as it is intense. Although the plot may seem familiar, just when you begin to cockishly feel that you’ve got it all figured out, the makers throw in a twist. And that’s why, at only six episodes, this is worth your time. So, go ahead, stream it now.