The International

Won't go down as an action thriller for the record books, but it's a pretty good one for right now. First of all, the villain is a bank. How's that for timing?

The compulsively watchable Owen makes for an ideal leading man of both action and angst. The film's eye-popping set piece, a shootout at the Guggenheim Museum, is an extravagantly choreographed valentine to philistines everywhere.

The International possesses the look and feel of a thriller, but not the heart or soul of one.

If you take Tykwer's film even half-seriously, it will be like one of those horror movies that you leave, suspecting that the crazy, ingenious super-killer is waiting for you outside. A warning, then, to the susceptible: After seeing The International, don't dare go to an ATM.

It's almost worth seeing, though, for the incredible action set piece at the center.

There’s a big hole in the middle of the movie: the director, Tom Tykwer, and the screenwriter, Eric Warren Singer, forgot to make their two crusaders human beings.

Motion is in copious supply -- a frenzied shootout at Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum grows interminable -- but the workings of the abstract plot are unfathomable, the characters are unpleasant and a couple of assassinations leave us as cold as the corpses.

The International is a thoroughly engaging action thriller with a top-notch lead performance from Clive Owen and sleek, stylish director from Tom Tykwer. Just as engaging as Tykwer's past films, The International examines the corrupt activities of a bank and uses it as a moralistic play when it comes to reality and the way bankers seem to get away with everything. For this, the film can be somewhat unsatisfying due to its lack of pay off, which many will find problematic, though I thoroughly loved the ending. The cinematography is very good, as in all of Tykwer's films and really gives the film this stylish, sexy look. That said, there are problems. The one major action set piece is really, really dumb. Like, **** dumb. Additionally, it can be hard to follow. Not too hard to follow, but there is certainly some confusion along the way. All in all, The International is a stylish thriller with an overly complicated story, an ending that I liked but many will not, and can be quite implausible at times. Overall, it is a truly flawed film that has more good than bad to it, plus it is definitely entertaining.

The International: 6 out of 10: The International has great timing. Not since The China Syndrome opened up 12 days before the Three Mile Island Accident, has a movie seemed so prescient (Or in The international’s case ripped from the headlines.) A therein lies one of The International’s two main problems. It is ripped from the headlines. The problem is the headlines in question are from 1989. The movie is about The BCCI collapse. Unfortunately the script mimics the actual late eighties scandal a little to accurately for its own good. There are clues that the script had been collecting dust for some time before the new bank crisis prompted it back in the mix. For example, one of the more famous BCCI clients was Samuel Doe, who was president of Liberia in the early eighties. Not exactly ripped from the headlines stuff, but the International doggedly creates a General Charles Motomba, played gamily by Lucian Msamati, who takes over Liberia with the banks help. Something that makes little sense in a year that starts with a two. In another, what decade is this again moment, the hit man uses a payphone after receiving what appears to be a beeper message. For those under 35, and not 30 Rock fans, let me explain what a beeper was. A beeper was a cell phone that did not make calls. It only receives phone numbers. Then you, the recipient of a “beep”, would have to find a payphone and call the number to talk to someone. Now a payphone was a phone that the public would use instead of their own separate cell phones. They were metal and had many germs. If you visit a public transport hub, you can sometimes still find “banks” of phones. If it seems I am nitpicking, keep in mind the film itself lives in some uncanny valley between Michael Clayton and The Bourne Identity. Not nearly realistic enough for Clayton fans; and for the Bourne fans? Well there are about as many action set pieces as there are hours the film runs. (Read two) It is a surprisingly talky affair. Speaking of talking, “Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” Can someone explain that quote to me. Our rumpled protagonist says it at least twice and it makes no bloody sense either time. In addition, speaking of not making sense… late in the film in Istanbul (not Constantinople) one bad guy says to the other let me show you a something few man have seen and proceeds to take him to the Basilica Cistern. You know that underground canal features In From Russia with Love and maybe the second Indiana Jones film and is one of Turkey’s biggest tourist attractions. This makes about as much sense if he said it about the Statue of Liberty. (There is this statue; in the harbor, few men have seen my friend) Overall, the acting, direction and cinematography are decent. However the story is dated and the film is simply too stupid to be an intellectual thriller, and too slow for an action movie. It certainly is a passable if mediocre timewaster overall.

The film has a great description for viewing and not a bad cast. But only if you don't start watching it. After 15-20 minutes, you understand that the screenwriter is not familiar with taking suspense in a thriller. The plot here is so slow and sluggishly unfolding as if you were not watching a full-length film but episode 1 of the pilot of some series. And in general, the film causes mixed feelings, especially the last 1/3 of the film was made only to finish the storyline. Unfortunately, a boring film turned out to be a good idea, which does not once pull on a thriller, as it was originally conceived.

A lot of drama, but not a lot of suspense. The music was limited which made me bored for most of the movie. The action didn't get under way until the middle of the movie. Overall, a toss-up movie with a slow plot.

C'est bien agréable de voir deux bons comédiens -excellents même- réunis ici (Owen et la charmante Watts) mais la bonne impression initiale se délite un peu trop vite dans ce thriller à grosses ficelles, certes bien réalisé mais qui ressasse beaucoup trop les clichés du thriller complotiste à la petite semaine. C'est en outre souvent invraisemblable avec plein de raccourcis pour boucher les trous d'un scénario à la masse, pour ne pas dire carrément à la ramasse. Alors, une vilaine banque qui fait dans le trafic d'armes ? et le guidage de missiles par dessus le marché ?!... putain, vous êtes loin les mecs, redescendez, on est pas sur Pluton...! Bref, cette enquête est plus ridicule qu'autre chose, ennuyeuse et fort décevante de la part du réalisateur du génial "Cours, Lola, cours" mais il faut croire que Lola était un superbe "accident" de parcours dans sa filmographie décidément très médiocre par ailleurs...