The International Reviews

This movie looked quite promising, but in the end turns out to be very disappointing. Too many flaws in the story for it to be even remotely believable. Acting performances are decent though, although at times Watts overacts (IMHO).

Since I have always been a fan of Tom Tykwer, I was really eager to check this flick and I had some pretty high expectations. Indeed, I think he is a very good director and I thought that this movie would be awesome. It was just quite exciting to see this guy directing a more commercial feature for once but, to be honest, it ended up being his movie I have enjoyed the least so far. I mean, as expected, the direction was great but the story was just simply average. It started pretty good and i was wondering for a while where it will go but then, it became obvious that the whole thing was just another rather average thriller with a plot which I have seen so many times before. On top of that, even though Clive Owen did a decent job, I wasn't really convinced by Naomi Watts though. I have to admit that the whole thing was actually rather entertaining, there were even some pretty cool action scenes (I especially enjoyed the really impressive shootout scene inside the Guggenheim Museum in New York). To conclude, even though I thought it was a disappointment, it doesn't mean that it was really bad and I still think it is worth a look but don't expect anything great before watching the damned thing.

I had exceedingly high expectations for this film being a fan of Clive Owen and Naomi Watts and it seemed like a great combination between a British actor and a British actress. However, when I did see this film, I was disappointed with it. It wasn't the actors within it, it was the film itself. The film fell flat even after 10 minutes and I was very bored within that time. I was quite annoyed at it as well because when you see the trailer of the film, there is loads of action within it but there is very little of it in the film itself which is very annoying! I think because it seemed like an action film was the only reason why people wanted to watch this film but it was no action film at all, really.


Clive Owen is my favourite actor from my country and he is the reason that kept me going through this disappointment. It wasn't him or his performance that was bad, it was the lousy character and I don't think the character was developed enough. It is the first bad film that Clive Owen has been in but no bad performances from him it remains thankfully!! Naomi Watts was another reason that kept me going with this film! Her character was lousy as well and just plain which is something that I hate in a film! Personally, if Naomi Watts or especially Clive Owen weren't in this film, I would've probably called it a disaster!

Overall, The International is a bad film that I thought was rather bad and disappointing. It is one of the worst of 2009 but I personally think that it could've been a lot worse without Owen or Watts in it.

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 understand that failures like these, if played with even slight humour or if they're portrayed too much, will make the character a bumbling buffoon instead of someone to take seriously. So they don't overdo it. Owen's character is enough of a failure for us to believe him as a human being, and it's a very refreshing thing in a modern agent film where "humanisation" of the main characters usually mean that when he gets shot he limps for the rest of the film.

The other big advantage that comes from the script is the bleakness of it all. Obviously, the world we live in, from a global perspective, is very depressing and there's not much an individual can do about it. That's that The International is all about. It's about the individual's inability to affect the globe. Tykwer, and the script, make this a very hard fact throughout the film and it affects the viewer in a positively depressing way. The story of this movie differentiates itself from the bulk of political thrillers, because this one feels by all means like a realistic film from it's beginning to the end. Maybe that's why I liked it so much. I've always appreciated realistic portrayals of humans and this world, and The International excels at it.

Also worth noting is that Tom Tykwer is a superb cinematographer and every shot in this film is beautiful. The man is a modern poet, making beauty from the pen which's ink is the climate of our world; beat-up cars, white motionless plaster and shiny skyscrapers turn into absolutely splendid visuals in The International because of his expertise. He never overmines the events with his visuals either, a sign of a very good director. Be on the lookout for whatever he makes in the future, I promise you, you won't be dissapointed. I sure wasn't with this one.

''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 realize there's actually an interesting plot unfolding.

The events of the plot are placed on the shoulders of various characters, with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts carrying the weight of this task. While Watts, as with most of the supporting cast, seems to have on and off performance deliveries Owen really manages to shine as the lead. Most of the film's best lines of dialogue come from Owen and his conversations with other characters, especially Watts. Sadly, these line deliveries aren't too frequent and, as a result (as with the plot), it can become hard to realize the subtlety of some of the dialogue.
There are times, however, that the film manages to shine and show what it'd be like if every scene was handled as well. The one major action scene in the middle of the film is probably one of the better shot and more entertaining action scenes I've seen recently. There are also a few more suspense-oriented scenes that help make things interesting here and there, which also break up the seeming monotony. Unfortunately, these scenes are too few and far between to make much of an impact on the film overall.
Back and forth between Germany, France, Italy, New York and more, The International treats audiences to action and intrigue in some amazing locales. The most impressive sequence takes place in the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, involving the most unlikely ambush, machine-gun shootout and bloody getaway. The setup for location-hopping and international espionage makes this feel like James Bond, except there isn't quite enough action, the pacing is a little slow, and the first act is reminiscent of a CSI episode. That's not entirely a bad thing - although the film doesn't know what it wants to be, the constant chases, high-speed pursuits and thrill of the hunt is enough to keep things generally amusing.

Protocol, procedure and jurisdiction always get in the way of justice. No one can handle the truth because of the immense responsibilities; stepping out of the boundaries of the law is crucial to success, and no real solutions can ever change the overwhelming corruption that seizes each aspect of every government. This isn't a new premise for Hollywood, and The International isn't relying on huge twists or extreme creativity to separate it from the commonplace action films opening on a regular basis. Audiences aren't likely to get the resolution or confirmation they're looking for by the end of this confused thriller, but as far as anyone should be concerned, the inconclusive toxin results, edited police statements, cover-ups and assassinations are no match for Clive Owen's powerful stare. It's all he ever brings to a gun-toting engagement, and it usually suffices.

All told, The International is a film that shows so many signs of greatness but only occasionally successfully administrates them. If you're interested in the film's plot and how it unfolds you might find a solid watch with The International, but be ready for a rather slow story. This is far from a bad film, yet the well-executed scenes are too few and far between to make it worthy of an honest recommendation. For Tom Tykwer, this a far cry from Perfume and even a brief cameo by Ben Whishaw absently, subtly reminds of this fact, maybe next time Tom...

Jonas Skarssen: What do you want?
Louis Salinger: I want some fucking justice.

"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 interspersed with an occasional exhilarating action set-piece. First-time screenwriter Eric Singer is unable to suitably handle the fantastic premise, discarding imaginative ideas in favour of lazy, generic plotting. This "relevant" picture possesses the look and feel of a thriller, but not the heart or soul of one. The excellent trailers implied a product considerably superior to the disappointing final result. Viewers seeking an intelligent break from Bourne-style action-oriented thrillers will have to search elsewhere.

In The International, dedicated Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Owen) suspects deadly dealings at a high-profile Luxembourg-based financial institution known as the IBBC (International Bank of Business and Credit - a ficticious creation, of course). Louis collaborates with Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Watts) following the murder of their mutual colleague. The two become determined to bring the IBBC to justice as they uncover illegal activities including money laundering, arms trading and the destabilisation of governments. However, the bank is prone to assassinating those who get too close to exposing its profitable warmongering. As the investigation intensifies, the protagonists quickly become the next target of the IBBC which is additionally taking steps to dead-end the search.

The International should have been an intelligent, timely thriller that entertains as much as it rivets. However, requisite character development is absent and it consequently isn't alluring enough. On a positive note, Tykwer is a competent director. Tykwer's camera angles perfectly capture the intricate sets, and Frank Griebe's exquisite cinematography additionally takes advantage of the atmospheric European locales. Virtually every scene has a lively visual quality, and the director's stylistic touch is this film's greatest asset. Tykwer has a terrific eye for framing, but unfortunately he has a tin ear for dialogue. The characters inhabiting the well-composed shots speak in lumps of banal exposition, their faces unflatteringly set in frowns. As a cerebral thriller (something this production evidently aspires to be for the most part), The International lacks appeal.

The film's centrepiece is undoubtedly the elaborate shootout in Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum. This lies at the heart of the film's marketing campaign, and for good reason. This sequence was added after-the-fact on account of poor test screenings in order to increase the action quotient. While it's the action highlight of the movie, don't let the trailers fool you into watching the movie on the promise of gunplay alone.

For the spectacular Guggenheim Museum shootout, a convincing full-size replica of the building was constructed on a German soundstage. This sequence transforms the modern architectural wonder into a large-scale shooting gallery, leaving the place riddled with bullet-holes, broken glass, blood, dead bodies and expended shell casings. Preposterous, yes, but it's a masterpiece of contemporary action cinema. The cinematography is outstanding, as is the music, sound effects, special effects and acting. The International is a rare animal in this age of cinema - an R-rated picture. The blood spilt during the Guggenheim sequence is frankly astounding, resulting in an action scene that's about as breathtaking as it is dramatically unnecessary. Its inclusion indicates the filmmakers' tacit acceptance that the predominantly cerebral thriller is a dying breed. With this in mind, it's probably no surprise that Tykwer's effort is struggling to earn back its $50 million budget at the box office.

In addition to the Guggenheim shootout, The International is infused with suspenseful chases and a thrilling execution. But a few scenes subsequent to the Guggenheim shootout, the film hits a speed bump and clearly has no idea where to go. For such an intricate plot, the conclusion is anticlimactic. The flick fails in its resolution because it reduces all the subplots and developments to the simplest of equations: one man pointing a gun at another. For a production that wishes to be more than an ordinary thriller, The International finishes on an all-too-familiar note. The ending is also too frustratingly perplexing and ambiguous. It merely satisfying the audience's desire for bloodlust, and solves nothing. Perhaps most disappointing is that it probably could've been fixed. With snappier editing and a stronger sense of finality, The International could have been tagged with a far more satisfying conclusion.

Green screenwriter Eric Singer is simply the wrong man for the job. His script fails to offer insight into the bank's unethical practises, instead wasting its duration generating subplots concerning the investigation behind the bank's latest assassination and the pursuit for said assassin. For 90 minutes, The International is a great thriller despite some lengthy, draggy sections. But Singer has no idea where to go past these first 90 minutes; clueless as to how he should appropriately end this thing.

Jonas Skarssen: "What do you want?"
Louis Salinger: "I want some fucking justice."

As for the cast, the always-reliable Clive Owen displays great acting skills, reminding us that he'd be a terrific James Bond. Owen seems right at home as the hot-headed, passionate Interpol agent Louis Salinger. He ably delivers as both an action man and as a smart operator with a patent sense of right and wrong. Owen is nicely countered by Naomi Watts as the pragmatic Eleanor Whitman. Watts is criminally underused, however. Her character is not only underdeveloped...she's entirely undeveloped. The actress is far too good for this underwritten supporting role, as she stands around and functions as a liability.
The extraordinary Armin Mueller-Stahl is the most memorable performer for his stillness in a role of great intensity, depth and resonance. Mueller-Stahl is a truly inspired piece of casting. There's also the adequate Ulrich Thomsen as cold and callous bank chief Jonas Skarssen.

For all its serious intent, Tom Tykwer's The International proves to be a perilously naff thriller. It's an exquisitely-filmed and crafted flick, but the script is problematic. The screenplay is filled with clunky dialogue and ludicrous plotting, not to mention it also lacks the vital wit and depth which would allow it to be a topflight thinking-man's thriller. Tykwer's flick additionally contains characters too dull, not to mention most of the suspense falls flat. This could have been 2009's Michael Clayton, but inexperienced scripter Singer is no Tony Gilroy. I really wanted to love this movie, but the final quarter is far too detrimental. Mark this one as a missed opportunity.

6.2/10