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The International boasts some electric action sequences and picturesque locales, but is undone by its preposterous plot.
All Critics (208) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (122) | Rotten (86) | DVD (9)
The International is strewn with wild improbability, but that hardly deters from its appeal. Mar 6, 2009 | Full Review…
The International is strewn with wild improbability, but that hardly deters from its appeal.
Jonathan F. Richards
As frustrating as the story's shallowness is, this shortcoming is very nearly negated by the sheer physical pleasure of the production. Feb 27, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
As frustrating as the story's shallowness is, this shortcoming is very nearly negated by the sheer physical pleasure of the production.
Eddie Cockrell
Eventually, you just let the tangled double-crossing take care of itself and enjoy the way the film defiantly bucks the contemporary thriller trend for shaky-cam coverage and lightning cuts. Feb 27, 2009 | Rating: 3/6 | Full Review…
Eventually, you just let the tangled double-crossing take care of itself and enjoy the way the film defiantly bucks the contemporary thriller trend for shaky-cam coverage and lightning cuts.
Trevor Johnston
Clive Owen may have lost the chance of playing 007, but he can still carry off an action movie, and proves it in this smart and handsomely made corporate conspiracy thriller from German director Tom Tykwer and first-time screenwriter Eric Singer. Feb 27, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Clive Owen may have lost the chance of playing 007, but he can still carry off an action movie, and proves it in this smart and handsomely made corporate conspiracy thriller from German director Tom Tykwer and first-time screenwriter Eric Singer.
Peter Bradshaw
Killer banks may be new to the movies, but there's nothing else original in this if-it's-Tuesday-this-must-be-Istanbul thriller, with its portentous globe-hopping and racing through colorful street bazaars. Feb 23, 2009 | Full Review…
Killer banks may be new to the movies, but there's nothing else original in this if-it's-Tuesday-this-must-be-Istanbul thriller, with its portentous globe-hopping and racing through colorful street bazaars.
David Denby
There is considerable satisfaction in seeing these tyrants of high finance live up to their image as the new villains of modern cinema, but even more satisfying are Tykwer's superbly staged action set pieces. Feb 20, 2009 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…
There is considerable satisfaction in seeing these tyrants of high finance live up to their image as the new villains of modern cinema, but even more satisfying are Tykwer's superbly staged action set pieces.
Jim Schembri
The International grabs you from the get-go with one of the most dramatic openings in a while. Dec 10, 2018 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The International grabs you from the get-go with one of the most dramatic openings in a while.
Kelly Jane Torrance
The International continues in this tradition of telling us what we already know to our sorrow. Somebody tell us something we don't know! Oct 31, 2018 | Full Review…
The International continues in this tradition of telling us what we already know to our sorrow. Somebody tell us something we don't know!
Eileen Jones
The premise might be timely, but the execution is same old, same old. Aug 29, 2018 | Full Review…
The premise might be timely, but the execution is same old, same old.
Deborah Ross
A sure-footed and thrilling sidestep into cinema's mainstream. Jul 6, 2018 | Full Review…
A sure-footed and thrilling sidestep into cinema's mainstream.
Samuel Wigley
As for the direction, Tykwer seems more enamoured with architecture than with his actors. Jan 2, 2018 | Full Review…
As for the direction, Tykwer seems more enamoured with architecture than with his actors.
Brian D. Johnson
What is this movie about? I had to keep asking myself this question while suffering through not one, but two hours of The International. Sep 12, 2017 | Rating: D+ | Full Review…
What is this movie about? I had to keep asking myself this question while suffering through not one, but two hours of The International.
Candice Frederick
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Super Reviewer
It's rather suspenseful, and the shootout in the Guggenheim is remarkable, but the master conspiracy in this film is almost too big to swallow - it smells a little bit like last-minute pandering in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis - and there a few too many contrivances that keep the story moving (chance meetings with suspects, a driver who for some reason tries to run over Naomi Watts BUT NOT her partner Clive Owen, etc.). Watts's character has a husband and son, too, which leads to Owen eventually hinting to Watts that she should get out of the chase, and while reasonable, for some reason this scene really bothered me. She, like Owen, knew what she signed up for, but she was dumped from the plot and given short shrift in the end, a one-line kiss-off over which the final credits were running. It makes me think that adding her - the only female character, come to think of it - was a studio executive's insertion for audience reasons... a second hint at last-minute changes. This is wild speculation, but I just found something off about this movie, like it was either a lazy Bond/Bourne rip-off that was scooped up and edited for its financially opportune moment or a really smart political thriller that was watered down for the masses. There were great parts, but as a whole the movie never fully committed to the size of its ambition, and as a result the pieces just didn't hang together. Great shootout, though; for better or for worse, it was really easy to lose the plot after a scene that enthralling.
An Interpol agent and an NYC District Attorney investigate mob-like dealings by an international bank. Sometimes one's best assets are one's greatest weakness. The International implies that banks benefit from political corruption and turmoil, and thus, this particular "evil bank" fans the flames of countries' internal strife and even involves themselves in arms trafficking. To foment the flames of discord so widely, the bank has to be huge, and representatives of the bank make this point in the film. But in order to satisfactorily end the film, the bank either has to win or be completely defeated, and since the point all along was about the bank's far-reaching effects, the latter option doesn't work within the film's construct. Without giving away the ending, neither happens, so the ending isn't satisfying; it leaves the audience hanging in the balance, trying to walk a kind of middle road. I like the fact that the film chose a system and a systemic problem as its villain - this is the film's strength - but this strength leads to the film's inability to end well. Also, I didn't understand Clive Owen's character. We get a little background, but this man is obsessed with this case, and we're never privy to why. What personally drives him to solve this case? Is he always this crazed and intense? His behavior is often irrationally angry, and more backstory - one that avoids cliche - would have been welcome. The shoot-out at the Guggenheim was well-choreographed on the positive side. Overall, the idea behind The International - choosing a systemic villain - is a good one, but it ultimately leads to the film's collapse.
Clive Owen and Naomi Watts are two of my favorites and together they helped me enjoy this film. A good hefty dose of action and some excellent thriller type moments as suspense combine for a good smart movie.
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