Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent, and Eleanor Whitman, a US Assistant District Attorney, are on the trail of the International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC).
Already involved in a variety of illlicit activities, the bank is on the verge of a massive play that will give it massive power and influence over global geopolitics.
And it is willing to kill to achieve its goals.
Something in me wants to admire The International.
A movie about the skullduggery of a bank, released in the midst of the financial crisis, The International was perfectly timed.
And yet…
The International is caught between two poles - on the one hand it wants to be a conspiracy thriller wrapped around the power of international financial institutions; on the other, it wants to be an action movie ala Jason Bourne and the other fella with the initials JB.
The movie has a great conceit, and the ideas it raises about the power of bankers remain sadly on-point. But the movie is not smart enough to convey those ideas.
Clive Owen is a humorless sleuth regurgitating exposition with a frown. Naomi Watts is the earnest US attorney reacting to and adding to said exposition. Both are fine performers, but this script could have been played by sims.
Owen was tied to the role of James Bond for years. The International is one of the movies that feels like his audition piece. Ironically, it was released the same year as a more lighthearted spy vehicle he starred in - the con artist movie Duplicity, in which he appeared opposite Julia Roberts.
Because of that connection, I started making others: the primary one is the villains - a bank working behind the scenes to gain power and influence in the developing world (shades of Quantum of Solace). Future Q Ben Winshaw pops up in a small role. And a key foot chase takes place on the roofs of Istanbul (this location would serve as the backdrop to Skyfall’s opening motorbike chase).
Directed by Tom Tykwer, the film has a chilly look and boasts some great urban locations. But that look only highlights how inorganic the characters feel.
This is a conspiracy movie that wants to evoke the paranoia of classic seventies thrillers. But the film spends so little time getting into Owen and Watts’ mind space that we never get that lose of control.
The International is too much of an action movie to succeed. The genres are at cross purposes - an action movie requires catharsis - and the filmmakers never thread the needle between them.
It is a pity because the movie’s action credentials are pretty solid. The shootout at the Guggenheim is a bolt of energy and excitement in an otherwise dour movie.
The International is another case of a great idea trapped in a flawed story.
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