Stream it now The International 2009

 

I like this movie, it was a good thriller, it wasn't boring 10/8.5%

So predictable! Clive Owen ceases to amaze me, everything he touches just terns to crap, don't know why, it just sorta happens. Like how everyone that knows anything always dies before they can say anything helpful. Awful film. And what was with the dialog? Or that part where the truck mirror hits him in the back of the Fock*ng head, unless your freaking Jesus Christ, your down for good. And why is everybody so stupid! lets see, third bullet, how could there be a third bullet, couldn't have possibly been planted, no, that's to simple. And what exactly was the plot!? Stupid stuff.

Eh...what exactly IS the plot ? 30 minutes into the movie, I still do not have a clue. Why does Clive Owen look like he hates the world and his job all the time ? This movie is an accumulation of ridiculous dialogue, extremely unconvincing acting, and generally really confusing. When his partner gets killed in the beginning of the movie, he looks at him from across the street like he already KNOWS that he is going to get killed...how could he possibly know that ? Then he gets hit by a car mirror, a huge truck mirror that under normal circumstances breaks your skull, but he gets up with only a minor scratch. A little further, if you have not fallen asleep by now, he stands in front of a huge building, with only very few people surrounding him, yet a woman manages to bump into him with full force. In all my life nobody has ever bumped into me like that, even in crowded places. He then proceeds to walk into the building, which is huge, but right when he enters, he sees his main antagonists all right there in the elevator. Next is a scheduled meeting, which is apparently important and for which he has flown to Luxembourg, yet he leaves the meeting after only ONE (!) question. Is that not a waste of taxpayer money ?
In summary, it is just agonizing to see the expression on Owen's face all the time, hard to describe what it is...he just does not look happy, maybe it is because he is thinking of the horrible script he has to act out ? That would make sense...
I really wonder who is putting down the money to produce such a film.

Bucket loads of intrigue and a generous serving of colorful characters make for a slick and interesting production in The International, a tale about a large world back that is involved in arms dealing. Trying to bring down the evil conglomerate is two of my favorites, Naomi Watts and Clive Owen. The plot is confusing at times, with some unnecessary, obligatory violence, but if you pay attention closely, it all makes sense. The end result is a decent enough film that might lose a minority of the audience who don't have the benefit of cliff notes to follow along.

Owen brings his usual intensity, and Watts, as usual, delivers that ever-present mix of intelligence and beauty. They make a great pair. Armin Mueller-Stahl as the bad guy with a conscience, and Haluk Bilginer are also very enjoyable.

The key plot points should have been explained better, and the standard, messy shootout at the museum added little for me. But Owen and Watts, and the others, and a decent enough story makes "The International" worthy viewing for most.

The story makes almost no sense, but in my opinion, everything else about it was very good. The acting is great, the action is tense, and the detective scenes are interesting. It all, unfortunately, just fails to retain its cohesion.

this film had some great action sequences and clive owen is brilliant...but this movie is everywhere! it has a terrible plot, nor a plot at all.

Kind of disappointing. Thoroughly enjoyable though.

Shooting up the Guggenheim - wow!! But there's so much more to this film than that now famous scene, including a very intelligent script and a subtle yet very timely message about the power and amorality of banks.

There is a certain dissconnect and waste of Naomi Watts who plays a fed agent who laisons with interpol's Clive Owens. She's all over the map on this one, but the rage that she shares with Owens over how govm't regulations and inter country relationships make it easy for the banks (and others) to easily work in the shadows without fear of reprecussion.

There are so many scenes here that are close to brilliant, yet don't quite pull it all off, just making it all so frustrating - and I guess perhaps that was the intention - letting the audience feel all the anguish as normal people uphold the wrong ideals and spout empty laws that no longer fit the 21st century.

The wonderful part of the script comes when Owen confronts the "advisor" to the bank, who was captured (at great price) by the NYPD. A true look into everyone's soul as the German tells Owen that the only way to take down the bank will involve some serious colateral damage. He knows who he has gone to bed with - and knows that he will probably be killed, just as the killer he was "handling" was sanctioned by the bankers.

I personally dislike the use of "titles" to show where we are in a film - it works on TV (more or less), but here shows a laziness, which is odd when the rest of the script is so deep and profound.

Still, there are so many "conveniences" that keep this from being a truly wonderful film - again, I have to chalk that up to juggling all the many plot points and keeping the story moving, but oh, what could have been!! The shoot em up in the Guggenheim was epic and the intelligent, no holds barred parts of the script and the very poetic ending, with the Interpol agent, finally having enough of the bankers getting their way, stalks the head banker through Istanbul (nice scenery here, by the way), and finally can't pull the trigger (even though the banker is goading him to try, by saying he hasn't the "authority" to kill an evil man - only to be saved by... well I'm not going to say, as that would give away too much.

Suffice it to say - the ending resolves nicely and let's you forgive some of the rather odd scenes that come before it.

In all, an intelligent thriller, where the violence seems for a purpose and not simply gratuitous.

Well acted, set in some great looking locations and one of the best shootouts of 2009 this an average maybe slightly boring thriller.

While having one of the best shootouts of the year, the re-shoots are incredibly obvious and the ending is a terrible cop out.