The International (2009)

Posted : 3 weeks, 3 days ago at Oct 29 9:47

The International is one bleak film. Tom Tykwer is an exceptional director, and this film proves it. The movie's greatest benefactor is it's script and Tykwer himself. First off, the script provides us with two interesting things; the main character is not a regular secret agent who kicks all sorts of arse in any given situation. Instead Clive Owen's agent is essentially a man who's been through too many ups and downs during his life and was never that good at anything. He isn't particularily excelsior at his job as an Interpol agent; in the very first scene, he accidentally smashes his face against the passenger mirror of an incoming car. There's plenty more of scenes with failures comparable to this, even though they're sometimes a far cry from being physical abuse. The script and Tykwer...Read more

Rating : 8/10

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago at Mar 17 8:46

''Sometimes you find your destiny on the road you took to avoid it.'' An Interpol agent attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring. Clive Owen: Louis Salinger The plot deals with an agent (Clive Owen) attempting to uncover and possibly prove a bank's involvement in sudden killings as well as arms dealing. The premise itself is good and sufficient enough to be carried through the film's nearly 2 hour runtime. This combined with a mostly solid story give the film an almost Tom Clancy-esquire style. Unfortunately, what keeps the story from being full realized from its potential is how it, along with most of the film seems to drag on to the point of yawns aplenty. Due to the relative slow pacing it can almost become hard to r...Read more

Rating : 6/10

Posted : 9 months ago at Feb 24 9:55

"Sometimes you find your destiny on the road you took to avoid it." A dubious international bank with unethical practises lies at the centre of this cracking action-thriller that draws evident inspiration from such films as Michael Clayton and the Jason Bourne series. Helmed by German director Tom Tykwer (to date probably best known as the man behind the acclaimed high-voltage thriller Run Lola Run), The International commences as an intriguing slow-burn thriller before deflating in its closing act, and ultimately not quite delivering on its potential. Despite the reshoots that brought about a major release date shift (from August 2008 to February 2009), Tykwer's crisp thriller is too flabby; fundamentally playing out as a string of well-shot but usually uninvolving dialogue scenes inte...Read more