Spoilers ahead, but who cares.<br /><br />Every now and then an avid movie theater goer is bound to stumble upon something like this, but it still took be by surprise. In fact, having seen the Tomb Rider recently, and bearing in mind Girl interrupted, because of Jolie alone I had some mild expectations going to see this summer afternoon time killer. Alas, what a mistake.<br /><br />A female beauty is really not a matter for discussion because everyone has his/her own taste, but I can't sway away the feeling that there is a way too much hype about Jolie's physical appearance than can be justified. A nice woman, but nothing more. As for her acting, she somehow fit into the roles of a schizophrenic or a comic/computer game type of characters, however, as la femme fatale she completely fails. Rapid transformations from a cold blooded rascal to a passionate volcano leave the sensation more of a sitcom style parody then some subtle introspective struggle of her character. Stick to Lara, Angie.<br /><br />Would someone tell me what it is about Banderas that they keep hiring him over and over again? Ok, he looks good and throws that sexy broken English at us, but come on: the guy can't act. It's as simple as that nothing more, nothing less. Pass.<br /><br />The story, ah the story of this 'movie', I guess there is more sense in answers to Jay Leno's questions in Jay Walking. Absolutely unimaginative and absolutely absurd and absolutely boring from the beginning to the end. If you make through it without dozing off at least a couple of times, than you're either a single lecherous 17-year old with a thing for Jolie or a bodyguard on duty. Several examples: why would a con team choose a poor Cuban clerk as their victim, as he described himself in the ad? what is the purpose of that charade with a private detective impersonation? how come they rent huge houses all over Cuba while being looked for by the police as the biggest public enemies? would a modest righteous monk agree to help a death row convict assuming serious consequences for himself, only after hearing her not-so-convincing story without any repentance? An so on, and so on, there's more, and some of it I surely missed due to the drowsiness.<br /><br />Other elements of the whole project barely jut out from the swill. The soundtrack is nothing close to what it might have been given the plot time and location. The scenery is again a disappointment given the huge opportunity to capitalize on the Caribbean surroundings. Instead, we mostly get the rundown backyards of big Cuban houses. The way the supporting characters are pictured as well as the nameless Cuban natives stenches miles away of the obsolete bourgeois colonial treatment which focuses exclusively on the petty preoccupations of the lame main characters.<br /><br />The end is more than annoying, not to use any stronger word. After seeing movies with tragic ending, one feels either sadness for the loss or the sense of helplessness for the inevitable. After seeing happy end movies, usually one feels relieved and optimistic. With this movie, one feels disappointed - that everyone gets away after choking the audience to death for almost two hours.<br /><br />1/10