The International (2009)

You won't be disappointed!

Pretty Good

hyped garbage

A Major Disappointment

I have watched this film at least five times and haven´t still quite gotten enough. It has everything going for it - a cast of stars, cinematic excellence and a script that walks the thin line between plausible and not quite plausible to build a lot of suspense. Shooting locations (no pun intended) include among others the Hagia Sophia and of course the now-legendary seven minute Uzi war in the Guggenheim Museum - surely this is no longer a spoiler! There are many scenes that could be from a Hitchcock film, for example the totally random appearance of a suspect and the resulting trailing to the Museum, suspense building inside the viewer´s head. Wide-eyed and unshaven, Clive Owen as the bewildered and pissed off main character seems straight out of North By Northwest. What´s more, the ghost of Orson Welles is even stronger than that of Hitch. After all Orson´s favorite theme of power corrupting mercilessly it´s users is the essence of Eric Warren Singer´s extremely well thought out script. There is a lot of dialogue and it´s all relevant and intelligent. Naomi Watts has a fairly limited female lead role, but she does it well. The film does not give any verbal hints about the relationship between the lead characters, yet it is obvious from the acting that there is or at least has been one. The lack of romantic nonsense earns an extra star for the International. Believe me, this is not that kind of film. Armin Mueller-Stahl is once again the old guy who actually knows what´s going on, a role he has done many times and he is again absolutely superb in it.

This was dry, vague and intense. I do like a film that lets the viewer figure it out for themselves but this was so muddled initially that it took me ages to figure out what was going on. Lots of men in suits with accents, conspiracy, murder and something about Interpol and a bank set on world domination.It opens with a man being killed on a street in Berlin. Clive Owen witnesses the death, he is gritty and intense (as per). The scene is intense but the viewer has no idea why he's been murdered or even how. The plot slowly comes together and as it turns out this is about an Interpol agent (Owen) who teams with a Manhattan assistant DA (Naomi Watts) on a dangerous chase across the globe (Germany, Luxembourg, Milan, NY, Istanbul) to expose a financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring. Their targets will stop at nothing to continue financing terror and war.I like Clive Owen, I enjoyed him here but I've seen him play this role before, in fact he the exact same character he was in "Children Of Men"; intense frowning, unhappy ands not very likable. Naomi Watts does a decent enough job as Owens' sorta love interest, her character is a bit of an a non-issue and neither of them really have to stretch themselves in the acting department. A decent sub cast attached too.I will say the cinematography was very cool, with interesting overhead shots and unique angles. The shootout at the Guggenheim Institute was also just fantastic, long, realistic looking and engaging. 3/22/15

Interpol Agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) is investigating the bank IBBC for buying $200million worth of missile guidance system with the Manhattan Assistant D.A. Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts). His partner dies in an apparent sophisticated killing. Then his partner's informer is found dead. Salinger is facing many roadblocks in this international conspiracy of money laundering, arms trafficking, and political corruption. Bank chairman Jonas Skarssen (Ulrich Thomsen)'s police statement is revised. Wilhelm Wexler (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is the banker who hired the Consultant.It's a lot of tense atmospherics. However the heat is left mostly at a slow boil. The use of bankers as bad guys is an interesting twist and a fitting one for the times. This is essentially a spy thriller with bankers instead of spies. The other noticeable thing from director Tom Tykwer is that he loves to put architecture in this movie. The story is a long winding twisty thing. There is a big shootout at the Guggenheim which finally gave this movie some action energy plus the prerequisite architecture fetish. Mostly it's a fun ride for conspiracy lovers.

Clive Owen is excellent in this gripping tale of political intrigue. An exciting suspense story centering around Owen's attempt to unravel a puzzle of financial misdeed. Owen delivers a gritty performance while Naomi Watts is along for the ride as his vague love interest. Well-directed by Tom Tykwer with an 'edge-of-your-seat' musical score to which Tykwer contributed. Best scenes include an extensive array of gunfire between warring parties at the Guggenheim Institute, and the final chase scene conducted on foot.Clive Owen is the breakout star of the decade -- he makes Tom Cruise look like cheap American dog food.