5th March, 2009
DAVID ADAMS
The International (MA15+)
In A Word: Gripping
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NOT JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE JOB: Clive Owen stars as Interpol agent Louis Salinger in The International.
"There’s plenty to like about this film - the locations are visually spectacular and the acting gritty while the action is a little over the top at times, director Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run) had ensured it grips you from the start."
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A thriller in the vain of Jason Bourne, The International is an action-packed adventure filled with plenty of twists and turns and, given it centres on efforts to hunt down some nefarious bankers, is bound to find resonance given the international financial crisis the world is experiencing.
Clive Owen plays dishevelled Interpol agent Louis Salinger, a man driven by his desire to bring a Luxembourg-based banking firm IBBC to account for their actions helping to fund the small arms trade in Africa.
He’s helped out by New York DA Eleanor Whitman (played by Naomi Watts) and after one of their colleagues meets with misfortune at the film’s start, the two of them embark on a mission to bring those responsible to justice which takes them to some stellar locations across the globe.
Both Owen and Watts put in strong performances as does Ulrich Thomsen (playing IBBC boss Jonas Skarssen). Armin Mueller-Stahl is a standout as the complicated colleague of Skarssen, Wilhelm Wexler.
There’s plenty to like about this film - the locations are visually spectacular and the acting gritty while the action is a little over the top at times (would it really take police in New York so long to respond to shoot-out in the Guggenheim?), director Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run) had ensured it grips you from the start.
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