I got this film from Netflix because it was released in 2009 and I had missed it (as had most wise people) when it was in theaters in February. I watched it on a weeknight because there was nothing on TV. In retrospect I would have done better sitting and meditating in silence.
The main problem with the film is that it was almost impossible to follow. There is no introduction and in the first minute, there is significant information on screen. The characters bounce around from New York to Berlin to Lyon (?!) apparently working for Interpol (how 1960s) and the NYC DA's office.
From the beginning, the bank bad guy (the eponymous International) is named as the bad guy and does bad guy things. There is no mystery or misdirection - where, say, you think the bank is doing good, but they're actually doing evil. In one of the first scenes, there's a meeting between a bank officer and an African general who leads some revolutionary group where the bank guy says that he can sell the Africans weapons ... that's great...
There is almost no suspense and the action is so fast (not to mention the locations change so fast) that you can't really follow anything.
As always, Clive Owen is great (he always is), but Naomi Watts apparently forgot how to talk American and forces her accent so much that she almost sounds German or Dutch... weird....
Stars: 1 of 4
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A blown opportunity since having the banks as the bad guy was perfect timing. Is Clive Owen ALWAYS great?
ReplyDeleteAlways is a bit of a stretch, but his talent outpaces everything else onscreen here... Totally - evil banks is such a good and timely storyline - especially great considering this movie was probably in production Spring/Summer 2008 - before the world ended.... it was like Syriana-lite or Michael Clayton decaf....
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