Product Description

Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) is determined to expose an arms dealing ring responsible for facilitating acts of terrorism around the globe. But as his investigation leads Salinger and his partner, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts), deeper into the secret world of greed, corruption and murder, they become targets of a deadly conspiracy so vast, they soon find the only people left to trust?are each other. This pulse-pounding thriller plays a high-stakes game of suspense, intrigue and explosive action.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6115 in DVD
• Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
• Released on: 2009-06-09
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Cantonese, English, Korean, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.com
The International is actually two movies in one: A highbrow thriller about a sprawling bank that resorts to murder and arms sales to retain its power, and a sleek visual essay on how architecture and interior design shapes your perceptions. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen, still not quite a star despite Inside Man and Children of Men) has been on the brink of conclusive evidence against the villainous international bank, but his sources always end up dead. With the aid of a Manhattan district attorney (Naomi Watts in a woefully underwritten part), he stumbles on the trail of the bank's favorite hit man, who might provide the (literally) smoking gun Louis needs. The International starts out smooth and silky, with visual style to burn and Owen's intense fervor. The plot gradually bogs down in incoherent moralizing, but along the way there are some taut sequences, including a bloody shootout in the Guggenheim Museum where alliances shift unexpectedly. But what makes The International worth seeing is director Tom Tykwer's astute eye for public space: Chic postmodern buildings, broad Italian plazas, Turkish rooftops like mountain paths--Tykwer orchestrates actors through these architectural shapes, his hypnotic visual sense creating far more tension and excitement than the plot. Also featuring Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises) and Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration) as malevolent Europeans. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from The International (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Solid work from Clive Owen, one great gunfight...and everything else is ho-hum.
THE INTERNATIONAL is a film that wants to be two kinds of movies at once, and somewhat drops the ball on being either very effectively.

This tells the story of an effort by law enforcement officials to bring down The International Bank of Business & Commerce, the IBBC. This bank, we're told right from the start, is involved in weapons trading and many shady deals involving violent overthrows of governments and so forth. They don't really make money off the arms dealing, they make money handling the debt of the newly emerging governments. They are a ruthless bunch, operating like a shadowy intelligence agency...assassinating those who stand in the way, bribing others. There is no way to bring them to justice, it would seem, because they have their fingers in every pie, and will kill anyone who might get in their way.

So first, THE INTERNATIONAL wants to be an "intelligent" thriller, with lots of suspense generated by the political and economic machinations of men in business suits talking in hushed tones. We see the good guys and the bad guys both discussing with each other the ramifications of one course of action or another. There is lots of globetrotting, with scenes in Luxembourg, France, Italy, the US & Turkey. These scenes are only moderately interesting, because in the end, the schemes of the bank are only drawn out in the most simplistic terms (the movie wants us to FEEL that everything is richly detailed and complicated, but it really isn't). AND, most importantly, the actions of the bank don't really feel entirely credible. Not that a financial institution wouldn't align itself with some really bad guys...but the whole thing really just feels like a half-baked Roger Moore-era James Bond kind of plot.

The other half of the movie wants to be an action thriller of the BOURNE ilk. But the action and gunplay and forensic police work is mostly quite staid and uninspired. With one notable exception. There is a fabulously elaborate, visceral and exciting gun battle set in the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Naturally, it relies on the old standby that all bad guys are terrible shots and good guys seldom miss...but it's a thrilling, old-fashioned sequence that makes the rest of the movie almost worthwhile.

Also worthwhile is the always solid presence of Clive Owen. Here's a guy who can really act, when given the chance. He can be charming, he can be soulless...but he's seldom boring (and he's always vaguely half-shaved...talk about swarthy). Yet true stardom has eluded him, because the truly best material doesn't go his way...or when something flat-out brilliant like CHILDREN OF MEN lands on his lap, no one goes to see it. Owen is the right man for THE INTERNATIONAL, though. He's capable of handling the talky dialogue. He seems vaguely impatient with all the chatter and politics, and just wants to get on with taking some people DOWN. And when the action does kick in, he's not just an impervious gunslinger...we see real fear and real hurt. We believe that he is a hero who COULD get killed. He brings a humanity to the most "Hollywood" of scenes and he brings movie star glamour to the most mundane of scenes. It's an interesting dichotomy.

Owen is the star of the film...no question. He is in nearly every scene, and director Tom Tykwer likes to give us lots of close-ups. But Owen is assisted by a sold supporting cast, including the always welcome Naomi Watts. Her role is seriously underwritten and probably could have been handled by anyone...but it's nice to see her anyway. The silky-voiced, menacing Armin Muehler-Stahl also shows up as one of the head honchos from the bank. This guy has THAT character down pat, and he's also always welcome.

Tykwer can be a great director (RUN LOLA RUN is a propulsive film in the best possible way)...and the gunfight shows where his true talents lie. He doesn't bring much zest to the talkier scenes, and I hope someone notices this and gives him a more action-packed thriller to helm.

Overall, I enjoyed THE INTERNATIONAL, but for most of its 118 minutes, I was quite aware that what I was seeing was not going to leave much of an impression. It's a solid but seldom exciting movie. It wants to think it has captured the flavor of our times, but it isn't rooted enough in believability. If you like Clive Owen, I'd say it's worth a look. If you're not a particular fan...then there's very little reason to spend time on it. It's a near miss.

Great Movie
"The International" is a good and honest movie. Hollywood generally doesn't release movies that are fairly original and intellectually respectful to the audience. The story deals with world bank corruption and how it's not the money that motivates them, but rather the power of enslaving nations and people with debt. If you know anything about the fractional reserve system of current banking, then this movie makes a lot of sense. I am surprised that Hollywood would release a movie like this.

The movie doesn't try to be more then it is. It does, however, take the audience on a journey to explain how the current economic situation could possibly be manipulated. The movie does follow some cliches, but I felt they were handled in original and artistic ways. The Guggenheim scene was very interesting and an original place to stage a Hollywood shootout. The story from start to finish is solid and easy to follow. There were no huge plot twists, however the character resolutions have their complexities and the finale is a little peculiar, but still gratifying and complete.

Clive Owen gives a wonderful and believable performance as a man over the edge and determined to expose the truth of this cloak and dagger organization. Naomi Watts does a good job as a supporting character and doesn't get in the way of the story, but she amplifies it when necessary.

I greatly enjoyed this movie. I skipped seeing it at the theater because it looked a little long, but after watching it on DVD my worries that the plot would be thin were put to rest. The story keeps the flow going and the audience interested the whole time.

It's All About the Guggenheim
If I could judge a movie based on one scene, The International might have a chance. For two hours of unbearable dialogue and spotty storytelling The International has a single bright spot to make it worthy of recommendation. The thing is, it's a powerfully, overwhelmingly bright spot that lasts for about 12 minutes and makes me wonder--despite the horrible things I'm about to say about the rest of the film--if I should tell you to go see it.

First, the bad. Clive Owen can act. Whether he's taking on a serious film like Children of Men or Closer or he's having fun in worthless crap like Shoot `Em Up, the man can act. There's no two ways around it. The same is true of his The International co-star Naomi Watts. A brilliant actress when she wants to be, Naomi has given performances that at times stood out as the best of their year. In The International, both parties shelve all of their apparent talent in favor of blandness as far as the eye can see. Ironically, it's the film's villains played by aged Armin Mueller-Stahl and "consultant" Brian F. O'Byrne who keep the film afloat.

Louis Salinger (Owen) has chased the same ghost for years. Every time he gets close to shutting down the IBBC, a bank with strong suspected ties to terrorists, the rug gets pulled from beneath his investigation. Sometimes key witnesses die in car crashes. Sometimes administrative bigwigs close his case. Either way, the story of Louis Salinger makes you think it must suck to be an Interpol agent.

When a key witness in the upper levels of the IBBC comes forward, ready to testify, Louis and his partner jump at the chance. Moments after the first clandestine rendezvous, Louis' partner drops dead in the street leaving Louis to answer all the questions: was it murder, who did it and why. To compound matters, a string of assassinations comes to a head when a respectable Italian politician is assassinated with the entire world watching. Is the IBBC involved? How do they benefit? To The International's credit, there are enough strings being pulled and enough plotline to keep things interesting. The failure isn't in content--it's in execution.

Naomi Watts fills in as the New York liaison for Louis' investigation and serves as little more than eye candy and a convenient tool to get Louis from one conflict to the next. Beyond that she's about as deep a character as one of those extra cops in a crime movie. Oh wait, that's pretty much her role. Yeah, they give her a nameless husband and child to show she's a slight workaholic, but beyond that there's no real exploration of her character. For all intents and purposes though, that's okay, as the main player is Louis.

Following the assassinations back to their perpetrator leads Louis to the best scene in the film: the Guggenheim Museum shoot-out. First off, the Museum is structurally beautiful with ramps connecting all the levels and gigantic hanging screens showing clips of random films. When the shoot-out begins you have no idea what you're in for--it just keeps escalating into a truly monumental and beautiful shoot-out for the ages. Honestly, it's this scene that puts me on the edge as to whether or not I recommend this to anyone but the most hardcore of action buffs.

Considering a plot about an evil bank seems about the most appropriate possible story in this age of foreclosures and bail-outs, the expectations beyond that were quite low--and yet Director Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run) still manages to turn it sour. He abandoned the kinetic frenzy of Run, Lola, Run for a slow plodding pace that only manages to pick up at the Guggenheim and the very end. Even if Tykwer doesn't cheapen the film with a lousy happy ending, it feels just as sleazy considering all the shortcuts and unexplained coincidences that wrap it all up.

I'm less annoyed with the film's total faults and more with the fact that a phenomenal shoot-out scene feels wasted sandwiched between two hour-long halves of crap. It seems almost criminal, and until the Guggenheim scene, my mind had already come up with ten ways to pan the film--but that changed everything.

I've given you all I can here. You need to decide how much you value a Bourne-saga worthy shoot-out scene in one of the coolest museums in the world. If that sounds worthwhile then do it. Otherwise wait for the rental.