The International (2009/I)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writer (WGA):

Eric Singer (written by)

Release Date:

13 February 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

They control your money. They control your government. They control your life. And everybody pays.

Plot:

An Interpol agent attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring.

Plot Keywords:

Bank | Interpol | District Attorney | New York | Istanbul

Cast

Clive Owen	...	Louis Salinger
Naomi Watts	...	Eleanor Whitman
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Wilhelm Wexler
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Jonas Skarssen
Brian F. O'Byrne	...	The Consultant
Michel Voletti	...	Viktor Haas
Patrick Baladi	...	Martin White
Jay Villiers	...	Francis Ehames
Fabrice Scott	...	Nicholai Yeshinski
Haluk Bilginer	...	Ahmet Sunay
Luca Barbareschi	...	Umberto Calvini (as Luca Giorgio Barbareschi)
Alessandro Fabrizi	...	Inspector Alberto Cerutti
Felix Solis	...	Detective Iggy Ornelas
Jack McGee	...	Detective Bernie Ward
Nilaja Sun	...	Detective Gloria Hubbard

MPAA:

Rated R for some sequences of violence and language.

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA | Germany | UK

Language:

English | Italian | French

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44264) | Germany:16 | UK:15 | South Korea:18 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Japan:PG-12 | Portugal:M/12 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | New Zealand:R16 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Singapore:PG (edited version) | India:A (cinema release) | Mexico:B15 | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Australia:M | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

59th Street Bridge, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

The film opened the 2009 Berlin International Film Fesitival on February 5, 2009.

Goofs:

Continuity: The close-up of the spike mike hidden under Skarssen's lapel shows an obvious lump and a lapel cut that is distinctly different from the following fuller upper body shot.

Quotes:

Cassian Skarssen: When there's no way out, you find a deeper way in.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Miss March/Race to Witch Mountain/Sunshine Cleaning (#1.3)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Wir Setzen Uns Mit Traenen Nieder

A bit of that Anti-Formula Formula

The International provides a breath of fresh air to fans of thrillers. It is a thriller film that rarely comes out of a big studio these days. It is a film more in style of Hitchcock with the mystery being the film's guiding force rather than frenetically stitched together action scenes. The Bourne Trilogy touched base on this type of thing, but still resorted to a largely conventional plot. While being an enjoyable and smarter-than-usual series of action movies they were nowhere near as intricate than their source material, which really dove into some seriously dark territory plot-wise with things that big budget thriller films almost never dare to touch.

This film does just that type of thing. It presents, as the villain, an institution that is pervasive in the world and most peoples lives. We deal with it almost everyday and we need to as it holds one of the things that we need everyday - money. From an observer viewpoint on this type of relationship it is easy to see which side has great power over the other and like all power, this one can also be abused. Perhaps this plot can turn people off since they refuse to believe that something that they trust with literally everything they've got, could be so untrustworthy. Or perhaps they've never seen or heard about such a thing before so therefore it can't be true. Either way, it is self-imposed mental limitation which will doom someone to eventually liking only one type of movie and/or story. Movies and stories, at their core, are presenting new ideas and patterns and The International doesn't do that with spectacular action scenes, but with it's fresh plot.

Crooks usually rob banks, but who gets robbed if the bank is the crook? That is the film's central question and the answer provided is also a bit more complex than could be expected. The path the answer doesn't always move at a breakneck pace nor are many of the answers provided fully satisfactory.

In addition to the winding plot the film features a spectacular shootout that results in a world class art museum getting trashed. It's a bit of the old action movie formula that almost never gets old, but overall the movie is an Anti-Formula to the every Hollywood Action Movie Formula. --- 9/10

BsCDb Classification: 13+ --- violence