‘International’ Appeal

A thriller only works well if the bad guys are menacing and if viewers can put themselves in the hero’s shoes. The team behind The International, including German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (who made the crazy, visually frenetic Run Lola Run), understand those principles. They have made a timely choice of villain: bankers. That’s right, in this economic climate, audiences aren’t going to have a hard time believing bankers are evil greedy shapeshifters, and they’re certainly not going to be too broken up if a hero comes along and dishes out some justice, vigilante style.

Clive Owen was a wise choice for the protagonist, a dogged, frustrated Interpol agent named Louis Salinger who has been trying to take down the International Bank, a nefarious financial institution up to their collective necks in international arms dealing. (Though side note, since when is Louis a good name for an action hero? Martin Riggs, John McClane, Harry Callahan, John Rambo, Kit Latura, Jack Carter…those are action hero names).

From the opening shot of Clive Owen’s stubbled face (seriously, Owen must have a chronic fear of razors because I have yet to see a movie in which he is clean-shaven), Tykwer and his longtime cinematographer Frank Griebe immediately establish an assured, confident, visually stunning film. Almost every single shot is breathtaking, and that’s a true achievement. In fact, after viewing the first five minutes of the film I thought I might be heading into classic thriller territory a la Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View. The rest of the film didn’t quite live up to those high expectations of mine, but it was still entertaining and well-acted.

It’s standard thriller fare—covert assassinations, snipers, cover-ups, corruption and leaks, etc. But the package is assembled with considerable skill. There are some significant flaws though. For one, Naomi Watts while good is underused. As the film progresses, there are vast chunks of screen time where her character simply disappears. Also, the detailing of Louis’ complicated past (all good heroes have one after all) is thrown away in a rather clunky expositional elevator exchange. On the plus side though, James Rebhorn, the greatest sleazeball character actor on the planet, makes a welcome and unexpected appearance. And Brian F. O’Byrne, who played the priest in Million Dollar Baby, is especially good as the bank’s assassin for hire. I wouldn’t have necessarily pictured this guy as an assassin, but he’s really good here, stealing the show just like Max von Sydow did in the aforementioned Three Days of the Condor.

The script isn’t perfectly structured either. It starts off strong but I felt myself getting restless repeatedly in the second act. But Tyker has an ace up his sleeve, and it’s an incredible shootout that involves Clive Owen taking on an almost endless array of bad guys toting automatic weapons in the famous Guggenheim museum. Architecture is another character in the film, and that’s no truer than it is here. It’s just a great action sequence, and I’d say that alone is worth the price of admission. You can watch an interesting little featurette on how the filmmakers designed the sequence here: firstshowing.net/2009/02/11/behind-the-scenes-video-of-the-guggenheim-shootout-in-the-international/.

The ending isn’t quite a knockout, and the whole thing feels a little convoluted at times, but it’s an entertaining movie and a good choice for this dead season. Stay tuned for the cynical postscript, which again is reminiscent of Three Days of the Condor. If nothing else, these guys studies the classics of their genre…always a smart move.

Check out Paul’s review here!