The tourist – Jamie Dornan in a different avatar
Jamie Dornan stars as a man who loses his memory after an accident in “The Tourist.”
Jamie Dornan has been turning in some great work these past few years.
Whether as the sexy serial killer in the series “The Fall” or in the role of “Pa” in the Oscar-nominated “Belfast,” he seems to bring it every time.
In “The Tourist,” Dornan stars as a man who wakes up from a horrible car accident with no memory. And attempting to discover who he is leads to not only some danger, but also more questions.
HBO Max continues stealth drops of some of the best drama mini-series on television. Last year highlights included “The Head” and “Station Eleven,” and they start 2022 strongly with the fantastic “The Tourist,” a twisty tale that plays like an Aussie version of “Fargo.” With sharp dialogue, clever plotting, and career-best work from Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald, this is a great little thriller, a show that constantly keeps you guessing and entertained in equal measure.
The “Belfast” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” star plays an unnamed man (at least for a while) who is driving through the very remote Australian outback. He stops at a station to use the bathroom, banters with the guy behind the counter, and hits the road again. Looking in the rearview mirror, he sees a truck gaining on him with remarkable speed. The Man twists off the road to avoid it and the trucker follows, revealing through a POV from his cab that this is very intentional he’s trying to kill this tourist. They race through the desert until The Man’s car crashes. He wakes up in a hospital with no memory of who he is or how he got there.
Some will argue that “The Tourist” gets too convoluted and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the playful uncertainty of the first half of the season more than the intensity of the second half. Although the show does get deeper in how it unpacks lies we tell ourselves and those we listen to from other people. It turns out that everyone on “The Tourist” has a secret or two, and almost all of them could use a car accident to reset the hole they’ve dug for themselves.