Movie Review: The International

THE INTERNATIONAL
Main Players: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, et al.
Calling the shots: Tom Tykwer
Running time: 118mins
What's it about? An Interpol agent (Owen) attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution’s role in an international arms dealing ring. - from imdb.com

What did I think? Sigh. This movie is like watching a family member perform in front of everyone and though they may think they are hot shit, they really aren’t. From the outset of this movie, it tries to be a Bond/Bourne type movie with international locations, a kinetic paced and intense music and some decent action but that’s all it does; tries.

The movie starts all of a sudden and at first it’s a little hard to keep track of what exactly is going on. And because it tries to be the said type of movie, it actually deters it from making any sense for a while. When it starts to flatten out become coherent enough, it begins to lag. You really do feel the full blunt of its running time and by the end if its uneventful climax, you are bored out of your mind.

As appealing as Clive Owen seems to be (he was set to be the next Bond at one stage, remember?) he is like you seem him in any other movie; nothing out of the ordinary for him here. And for those who are fans of Naomi Watts, you’ll be disappointed as you’ll have a hard time finding her on screen at all; the least work done by a leading lady and second headline name in a while I reckon.

The rest of the cast are solid without being spectacular. Most I imagine are European actors and I’ve never heard of them, so that helped a little with authenticity factor of the accents and characters.

Tom Tykwer is a very hit and miss director. When he stays within his limits or has decent material to work with (Run Lola Run and Perfume) he is great. This might be borderline; attempts to have the pace that Lola had but like I said it just deters it from the storytelling. It really is a wannabe movie. The music at certain points will remind you of a Bourne movie and they even use the same stretch of Road in Italy, as seen in the opening sequence of Quantum of Solace.

You might be inclined to see it if you are a Clive Owen fan but be warned. If you’ve seen the trailer, not only have you been deceived (because it did look good), you have also pretty much seen the entire movie.

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