Director: Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Paris je t'aime)Cast: Clive Owen (Children of Men, Closer), Naomi Watts (The Ring, Mulholland Dr.), Ulrich Thomsen (Duplicity), Armin Mueller-Stahl (Angels & Demons), Felix Solis, Jack McGee (Rescue Me)
The Deal: Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Watts) are determined to expose the International Bank of Business and Credit for illegal activities that include money laundering, arms trading, and government destabilizations. Anyone who has gotten close to discovering the IBBC's dealings has wound up dead. After learning some key bits of information and discovering the identity of the assassin the bank uses, Salinger and Whitman must bring down the company before the company silences them.
Thoughts: Films like this tend to crop up in bunches every year, with some standing out and others becoming fast forgotten. Though The International falls somewhere in between those two extremes, I would say that it leans closer to standing out. It's not a great film, but it is interesting and sports enough suspense and action to keep it entertaining throughout. It flirts with being very good, but some of the surprises were a little too easy to predict, and much of the story seems all too familiar.
Clive Owen always seems to look worn out in every film he's in, which is very useful here. His character is supposed to running on little to no sleep with minimal food because of his obsession with bringing down the bank. He looks the part, and he does a solid job with his performance. He's capable of a bit more, but he's not bad in any way. Naomi Watts gets somewhat forgotten in the film. It's not that she was bad, but around half way through her character is no longer in the forefront and the focus has shifted away from her. Some of the best scenes in the film didn't have her in it. It really just became the Clive Owen show, though it would have been nice to find a larger use for Watts.
Though I would not really consider this an action film, it has one of the coolest action sequences I've seen in the last couple of years. It takes place in the Guggenheim Museum, which kind of spirals up in one long continuous ramp. The place becomes filled with goons toting guns, and Salinger must make his way down the ramp, which is the only way out. The place becomes riddled with bullet holes, and plenty of things come crashing down. The scene looked very cool, and was very exciting and suspenseful. They built an exact replica of the museum due to the large amounts of damage they wanted to inflict.
Verdict: Though not an outstanding film, The International is entertaining and has a dynamite action sequence. The performances keep the film interesting, making this worthwhile for at least a rental. ☆☆☆1/2
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