The International
They control your money. They control your government. They control your life. And everybody pays.
Interpol Agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) are determined to bring to justice one of the world's most powerful banks. Uncovering myriad and reprehensible illegal activities, Salinger and Whitman follow the money from Berlin to Milan to New York to Istanbul. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk as their targets will stop at nothing - even murder - to continue financing terror and war.
Member Reviews
Don Quixote is closing his bank account. - Chintease
Are you a travel agent that despises bankers? If yes, this is the film for you. Clive Owen travels the world to close his bank accounts with hand-guns and semi-automatics.
Jonas Skarssen: What do you want?
Clive: I want some friggin interac transactions for free!3.3 stars simply for film, 4 stars including director's commentary - Moir
Tom Tykwer is a very interesting director,film commentator and thinker. I think that this was a very difficult film to make in that while attempting to catch the complex and unsatisfying way concentrators of large amounts of money seem to warp all of our lives, it tiptoes close enough along the edge of a suspense/ adventure genre that it would be easy for viewers to fall into preconceptions of what to expect - yet to do this would have distorted the reality the film is trying to reflect. [To name a few things one might expect of an American suspense/ adventure film: charged romantic/ sexual tension between 'hero' and 'heroine' accepted by both of them at least to some level, unambiguously dislikeable 'bad guys', super competent 'good guy', clearly resolved victory of 'good guy' even if only symbolic .. we are so conditioned to expect such things I think it understandable if the viewer might risk suffering a bit of 'culture shock' as if they had stumbled into the wrong country by mistake at their absence].
I felt the film was definitely worth seeing, especially for anyone interested in story telling, especially on film. It is not exactly 'the Corporation', the documentary by film makers Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott based on the brilliant book by UBC law professor Joel Bakan meets The Night Manager, the 'post Cold War' novel by John le Carré about a victorious decent and lethal former SAS(?) hero ... for one thing, film requires much more compactness in certain plot aspects and information presentation... also there is no super hero but simply an 'ordinary' good looking guy. But for anyone dismayed at how the power leverages of big money seem able to warp even a sense of good and evil, and produce 'good people' who just happen to have become so pragmatic they have ceased caring what evil effects their pragmatism may cause it is worth watching and cheering the effort. Even though it is not a great film, it is greatly done.How disappointing... - pinster
The International stars Clive Owen and Naomi Watts as two law enforcement agents from different sides of the Atlantic trying to take down a bank they believe is funding conflicts for profit. Owen is from Interpol while Watts is from the New York DA's office.
What promises to be a taut thriller with a convoluted plot actually turns out to be quite a yawner. The direction, by Tom Tykwer, is glossy but lacks any depth. At times, it appears that Tykwer feels like all thats needed for suspense is tense music. Unfortunately, he does not get the fact that tension needs to build. Its not just there when you need it. Unfortunately, little time is spent developing a plot that could have had you moving in all directions. There are no real plot twists, the interplay between the stars is non-existent and the bad guys don;t even come off as being particularly evil. WHich is too bad because Clive Owen is excellent as usual.
One last thing that wrecks this picture. As is typical for Hollywood movies, it appears that if the story tends to be lacking, or some real effort is required to add tension or suspense, you just stick in a completely implausible action sequence. In this case, there is a scene in the Guggenheim museum that is completely preposterous. I know that when I watch a movie, I should suspend my disbelief. However, I can't stand it when a movie is trying to be realistic and gutsy and then puts one of those "c'mon" scenes in. To me, its lazy.
Member Reviews
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Don Quixote is closing his bank account. - Chintease
Are you a travel agent that despises bankers? If yes, this is the film for you. Clive Owen travels the world to close his bank accounts with hand-guns and semi-automatics.
Jonas Skarssen: What do you want?
Clive: I want some friggin interac transactions ...3.3 stars simply for film, 4 stars including director's commentary - Moir
Tom Tykwer is a very interesting director,film commentator and thinker. I think that this was a very difficult film to make in that while attempting to catch the complex and unsatisfying way concentrators of large amounts of money seem to warp all of our lives, ...How disappointing... - pinster
The International stars Clive Owen and Naomi Watts as two law enforcement agents from different sides of the Atlantic trying to take down a bank they believe is funding conflicts for profit. Owen is from Interpol while Watts is from the New York DA's office.
What ...