Rating of
N/A
Too much gobbledegook about banks.
Gunneos - wrote on 05/04/09
The International is the kind of movie where everyone’s afraid to admit what they don’t understand, because it’s supposed to be this extra-smart thriller about bank corruption and greedy CEOs. Don’t fall for it - chances are the confusion is probably a result of the movie’s ultra-convoluted plot, not your own lack of neurons.
The movie stars Clive Owen and Naomi Watts who investigate a bank they suspect is eyebrow-deep in illegal activities after Owen witnesses the sudden and unnatural death of his partner. I don’t know what “illegal activities” they are, and if the movie mentioned them they didn’t make it easy enough for ordinary people like you and I to understand. Someone else is assassinated, again who I can’t recall because the movie has a hobby of introducing too many characters with impossibly long titles and names. I may have covered my ears at some point during the movie, I don’t know.
The few lines that I did get, however, are smart. One that stayed in my mind was a particularly good comeback the next time someone tells you to “relax” or “chill out” - “I’m much comfortable tensed.” Owen also has the ability to sleepwalk through a movie with his eyes wide open without us really hating him… a good thing, possibly? Watts wasn’t impressive, and if there was one thing the movie did right, it was the action sequences (there’s one set in the Guggenheim Museum in New York that’s worth noting). They were bloody, with purpose, were at times hilarious, took casualties, and were perfectly paced, being neither excessive nor meager. There’s clearly too much gobbledegook about banks and international laws when the movie could have just been a good action piece.
