Review - The International

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Cinema Voyage - May 2009

Review - The International

May 1st 2009 04:08

I penned my interest to see this film back in January and I must admit I came away feeling a bit empty after the experience.

Starring Clive Owen as Interpol Agent Louis Salinger and Naomi Watts as US Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman, both are working hand in hand to investigate the goings on behind international banking. Taking international law into their own hands at times, they uncover arms trading plots, murder and involvement in terrorism - not the usual goings on behind your local Commonwealth Bank admittedly!

With an almost 2 hour running time, the movie starts in the middle of an ongoing investigation. Louis, ex Scotland Yard, had similar involvement with bank investigations in his previous working career and we hear snippets regarding his background along the way. His character is presented as a loner and it does not allow us to learn anything more about him other than what we are presented with on screen.

Eleanor is married with children, although we only see this part of her life briefly and are meant to somehow conjure up a three dimensional character from it all. There is oddly no real relationship between that of Louis and Eleanor - despite an odd face touching scene where he announces that she must burn her bridges with him in order for them to succeed. Her character has no real purpose in the movie and it would play out the same regardless of her involvement. She appears and disappears leaving Louis to bring down the shady bankers by himself.

Directed by Tom Tykwer, it is a long way removed from the arthouse fare he is usually connected with. I am a fan of his body of work which include Heaven, Run Lola Run and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and this film certainly did not reach the directorial heights shown in these movies.

Good thrillers are rare to find and whilst this would not appear on my top list of thrillers recently viewed, it was cemented in enough realism to believe that these types of goings on could occur. For fans of action movies, the film does provide the audience with a creative shootout in the Guggenheim Museum but this scene stands somewhat apart from the rest of the movie. Admittedly the final scenes failed to live up to my expectations but I did enjoy the scenic shots from some stunning locations - Turkey, Germany, Italy and France to name a few.

Banking, it seems is not all about dollars and cents. If you are looking to enter the world of finance here is a tip - if you control the debt - you control everything!

Voyage Review: 3/5

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Thriller

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2 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

May 1st 2009 23:09

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Michelle,

i really like some of Twyker's work like The Princess and The Warrior , Wintersleepers andDas Experiment...found Run Lola run to be an empty vessel with flash but their is no denying the man has skills.

Naomi Watts annoys me alot of the time (not all) but Clive Owen usually delivers the goods so i may put this on my DVD list.

Thanks for the review,

Comment by Michelle Sweeney

May 5th 2009 05:54

Competition Queen
Always Learning
Cinema Voyage

My pleasure. Hopefully Naomi Watts will not annoy too much as she is not on screen for the most part.

I enjoyed Princess and The Warrior too - I had forgotten about that one!

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