Spring Break
'The International' all action, no plot
2 and a half out of 5 stars
Natalie Abreu
Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: Focus
With a title like "The International," a movie-goer might expect this film to be about a world of espionage filled with cool gadgets and sexy spies, action scenes and conspiracy plots galore. But that is not the case with this film, which explores a topic which is especially relevant to today's economically crumbling world: evil banks.
Though the simple plot of an evil bank using their wealth of money to fund terrorism and murder and tocreate millions of debt slaves might sound too horrible to be true, the bank portrayed in this film, the IBBC bank, was based on a true scandal of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International in the late '80s and early 1990s. The film, however plays it out as if it were another day at the office for Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent with a hunger for justice. After trailing the bank for what seems to be years, he finally finds witnesses to the bank's corrupt acts. Only problem is that the witnesses become silent through manipulation tactics or death. With the help of a New York City assistant district attorney Eleanor Whitman (played by Naomi Watts), Salinger and Whitman explore the globe, trying to track down these nefarious men with designer suits and slick European accents.
Though the film is action-packed, suspenseful and visually stunning panning camera shots of exotic locales like Istanbul, Milan and Berlin, the script does not anchor the premise of the film enough for the audience to feel emotionally involved. The film's conclusion, just like its plot, seems patched, as if the filmmakers did not know in what direction to go.
But like so many of Clive Owen's action films, it is style more than substance. All of his characters in these types of films, such as "Sin City" and "Shoot 'Em Up," seem to be in the same vein of Agent Salinger who, though seeking justice, is at any moment willing to shoot first and ask questions later. Owen is a natural at the brooding action type, but he seems to be imitating a mixture of a James Bond/Jason Bourne type of character rather than a full fledged character of his own. It is exciting, however, to see a shootout scene in the architecturally stunning Guggenheim Museum. While the action sequence in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is equally as impressive, the Guggenheim takes the cake. With creamy colored and peaceful looking white walls, the idea of this building housing such violent acts is an interesting juxtaposition; it's a work of art in its filming and cinematography. Maybe it belongs in a museum itself.
Though the simple plot of an evil bank using their wealth of money to fund terrorism and murder and tocreate millions of debt slaves might sound too horrible to be true, the bank portrayed in this film, the IBBC bank, was based on a true scandal of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International in the late '80s and early 1990s. The film, however plays it out as if it were another day at the office for Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent with a hunger for justice. After trailing the bank for what seems to be years, he finally finds witnesses to the bank's corrupt acts. Only problem is that the witnesses become silent through manipulation tactics or death. With the help of a New York City assistant district attorney Eleanor Whitman (played by Naomi Watts), Salinger and Whitman explore the globe, trying to track down these nefarious men with designer suits and slick European accents.
Though the film is action-packed, suspenseful and visually stunning panning camera shots of exotic locales like Istanbul, Milan and Berlin, the script does not anchor the premise of the film enough for the audience to feel emotionally involved. The film's conclusion, just like its plot, seems patched, as if the filmmakers did not know in what direction to go.
But like so many of Clive Owen's action films, it is style more than substance. All of his characters in these types of films, such as "Sin City" and "Shoot 'Em Up," seem to be in the same vein of Agent Salinger who, though seeking justice, is at any moment willing to shoot first and ask questions later. Owen is a natural at the brooding action type, but he seems to be imitating a mixture of a James Bond/Jason Bourne type of character rather than a full fledged character of his own. It is exciting, however, to see a shootout scene in the architecturally stunning Guggenheim Museum. While the action sequence in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is equally as impressive, the Guggenheim takes the cake. With creamy colored and peaceful looking white walls, the idea of this building housing such violent acts is an interesting juxtaposition; it's a work of art in its filming and cinematography. Maybe it belongs in a museum itself.
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