The International

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Last night I paid to see Tom Tykwer's The International, having missed the Manhattan press screening. And I knew right away that the downish critical response (Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 52% and 55% from the rank-and-file and creme de la creme, respectively) was at least somewhat unfair and inaccurate.

This is a pretty nifty shot when you consider that the rear-wall glass should but doesn't reflect the presence of a camera in front of Watts and Owen. Very nice CGI, this.

For The International is another smart and mostly satisfying "tween." A thriller that isn't (as someone else has already said, I'm sure) a Bourne thing but not a LeCarre-type deal either. And yet it's not half bad on its own terms until the tension slackens and a kind of manic action vibe takes over during the final 25%.

You could call The International an old-fashioned '70s thriller that tries, yes, to ape the moody paranoid vein of Alan Pakula's The Parallax View -- unsuccessfully -- and yet one that benefits from a sensible and modest approach, no-nonsense direction, solid performances (particularly from Clive Owen and supporting players Armin Mueller-Stahl and Brian F. O'Byrne), nicely aromatic Euro-backdrops and an agreeably tidy, well-ordered script by Eric Warren Singer.

Some of the popcorn munchers in theatre #13 at the AMC Empire were laughing and hooting during that final 25%, though. A guy sitting behind me began loudly tapping his feet on the floor and complaining to his friend. The International feels a little too literal and earnest in the final laps, agreed, but it doesn't deserve cat-calls. I wasn't about to stand up and say "will you guys shut the fuck up?" but I was definitely thinking about this. I was close but I wimped out. Which at times has been the story of my life.

There was this corpulent black kid sitting three seats to my left whose main activity was eating popcorn and candy and slurping down his 48-ounce drink. This 11 year-old African-American beach balloon took his jacket off and then put it back on and then took it off again, chatted with his Jabba-sized mom and dad incessantly, and hit the bathroom (or took a video-game break) twice. The more this little junk-food eating machine failed to watch, much less appreciate, what was going on the screen, the more allegiance and affection I felt for The International.

The International is about a sociopathic bank, called IBBC, that we soon discover is into all kinds of unsavory criminal fundings. IBBC is an anagram, of course, for the real-life BCCI, which flourished in the '70s and '80s before getting caught up in a criminal investigation in the early '90s. The bank's relationship with underworld elements led to the nickname "Bank of Crooks and Criminals International."

Anyway, it's about an unshaven, tie-less and tireless Interpol agent (Owen) who's determined to expose the IBBC's malignancy, particularly its pattern of offing anyone who may have the goods and rat to the authorities. The timing of having a bank as a "bad guy", of course, is perfect. "This is the essence of the banking industry," one character says early on, "to make us all slaves to debt." Right.

Early on Owen picks up an investigative ally in the New York D.A.'s office, played by Naomi Watts. Every time they get close to talking to someone who might offer proof of the IBBC's ties to terrorism and gangsters, the whistle-blower, of course, gets offed. Even a hired Irish hitman (O'Byrne) who's done some of the offing winds up dodging bank bullets.

But The International is into working with you rather than fucking with your head, so you can follow what's going on without a great deal of effort. The script goes from point A to B to C and on down the logical line. There's something very pleasurable and '70s-like about this. It kept me aroused but made me feel relaxed at the same time. Until, that is, the final portion, at which point the exposition started to feel a little ploddy. A voice inside began to say, "C'mon, c'mon...we need more than just this!"

The International begins to fall apart right after the peak action sequence -- an automatic weapons shoot-out at Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum. But up until that point it's an almost completely satisfying medium-grade thriller. That is, if you're like me and not like one of those wildebeest assholes in theatre #13 last night.

The Parallax parallel is in the view -- the final resolution, in fact -- that taking down today's nefarious evildoers just isn't within the power of an impassioned good-guy protagonist. However true or untrue that may be, this isn't a very satisfying way to end a thriller.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 16, 2009 at 9:08 AM

comment #1

actionman says ...

Nice review, Wells. I really enjoy reading your full-length critiques.

I'd like to see this, if for nothing else, than for Owen and the museum shoot-out, which everyone says is a doozy. I am a BIG fan of Tykwer -- Perfume is fucking incredible.

Posted by actionman at February 16, 2009 9:23 AM

comment #2

actionman says ...

And any film that tries to recall any aspect of The Parallax View (be it tone, style, plot, etc.) is A-OK by me. That's one of my favorite flicks.

Posted by actionman at February 16, 2009 9:25 AM

comment #3

Uncle Grambo says ...

Glad to hear someone else (at least marginally) sticking up for this film. The Guggenheim scene was aces -- all those Uzis! -- and Tykwer's direction was very stylish without being overly flashy.

But Wells, why oh why did you go to Times Square to see a movie? There are lots of other theaters here in NYC where you can get the populist vibe but don't have to deal with the sort of riff-raff you find at the Empire 25. They have no respect at all for films or audiences, as evidenced by the time I saw PAN'S LABYRINTH there when it opened. Even in a movie like that, there was non-stop hootin' and hollerin'.

Posted by Uncle Grambo at February 16, 2009 9:49 AM

comment #4

Bilge says ...

"It kept me aroused but made me feel relaxed at the same time."

Did you just compare THE INTERNATIONAL to an old whore?

Posted by Bilge at February 16, 2009 10:08 AM

comment #5

K. Bowen says ...

Jeff, do you intentionally sit next to the shabbiest viewer in the theater just so you'll have material to write about?

Posted by K. Bowen at February 16, 2009 10:20 AM

comment #6

azmoviegoer says ...

Now that is what I call classic Wells. A well written, dead-on summary of the movie with a bit of fatty bashing and a spolier (the hitman's ultimate fate) thrown in for good measure. Very entertaining all around.

Last movie I went to, the person 2 seats down answered their phone during the last major action set piece and had a little chat throughout the whole thing as if was no bother to anyone. In cases like that, I wish I had a set of special skills like the guy in Taken so at the very least I could tell them to STFU without having to worry about the consequences of doing so. It's sad and pathetic that people have so little respect for each other.

Posted by azmoviegoer at February 16, 2009 10:27 AM

comment #7

actionman says ...

I have a cell phone jammer and I turn it on as soon as I enter the theater. No I don't. But sometimes I wish I did.

NYC has to be one of the worst places to watch movies up on the big screen.

Posted by actionman at February 16, 2009 10:32 AM

comment #8

swordandpen says ...

There's only a few theaters left in New York where you can see a movie without dealing with morons. AMC Empire is definitely not one of them.

Posted by swordandpen at February 16, 2009 11:08 AM

comment #9

Sabina E says ...

Whoa, wait, there were 11 years old kids in the audience? That surprises me.

I'd rather wait for the DVD, because this kind of movie requires subtitles for me to follow the story.

Posted by Sabina E at February 16, 2009 11:39 AM

comment #10

PastePotPete says ...

I saw this last night and agree for the most part with Wells review, though I come down probably a little more positively in the final analysis. This is the kind of movie, a thriller for adults, that people always say they wish more of were made but then don't turn up to see.

Two terrific leads, lots of great exotic location shooting, a really well done paranoid vibe for the first two thirds, and a terrific action scene. The part of the movie after the Guggenheim goes on a bit too long and probably downgrades the movie from Very Good to Good.

Posted by PastePotPete at February 16, 2009 11:41 AM

comment #11

Hallick says ...

"Whoa, wait, there were 11 years old kids in the audience? That surprises me. "

Yeah, I know. You'd think he'd be watching Friday the 13th instead. His mom probably just thought he was too old for it now. You can't really get a kid trauma'd up real good after their 8th birthday I guess.

Posted by Hallick at February 16, 2009 11:46 AM

comment #12

MindlessObamaton says ...

Christ, Naomi Watts is hot. I just want to eat her up every time I see a pic of her.

Posted by MindlessObamaton at February 16, 2009 11:47 AM

comment #13

LeroyBrown says ...

I don't know, I thought the Guggenheim shootout was absurd in concept and lame in execution--just a lot of noise and destruction without any artistry in the way it was shot or edited. And for me, Armin Mueller-Stahl's presence is always a negative. My heart sinks whenever he shows up with his weirdly disfigured lips and speaks in his Teutonic monotone. Just a personal thing, I guess.

Posted by LeroyBrown at February 16, 2009 12:19 PM

comment #14

nemo says ...

I'm living in Austin this year, and one of my favorite places is the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, and one of my favorite things about the Alamo Drafthouse is the be-polite-or-else short they run before every movie.

In it a cell phone rings, and the a-hole owner begins texting. Someone seated nearby raises a hand, and an usher moves in behind the cell phone user to perform a swift ninja commando-style assassination. The screen goes black with the words:

TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE
AND KEEP QUIET OR ELSE
WE'LL TAKE YOUR ASS OUT.

Apparently they follow up on this policy (although maybe not the ninja assassination part). Every movie theater in America should be doing this.

Posted by nemo at February 16, 2009 12:36 PM

comment #15

actionman says ...

LeroyBrown -- have you ever seen Avalon?

Posted by actionman at February 16, 2009 12:41 PM

comment #16

Mr. Muckle says ...

Move to a better seat, Jeff! Sometimes it takes me two or three moves before I'm out of aura range of some ignorant dope.

I liked The International, too, but agree with some of the above posters that Mueller-Stahl doesn't do it for me. His worst effort, IMO, Mission to Mars, which might have been DePalma's worst effort as well.

But the absurdity began just before the Guggenheim scenes, to me. How do that many guys with Uzi's get into a museum on that short notice? Is New York really so laxly policed? I'm canceling any vacation plans I had for that burg.

I also wondered how they did that back reflection on the elevator scene. Took some doing, no doubt.

Posted by Mr. Muckle at February 16, 2009 12:52 PM

comment #17

nemo says ...

"But the absurdity began just before the Guggenheim scenes, to me. How do that many guys with Uzi's get into a museum on that short notice? Is New York really so laxly policed? I'm canceling any vacation plans I had for that burg."

I once ran into an ex-girlfriend who hated my guts (the feeling was mutual) in the Guggenheim. I would have rather faced the Uzi's. Museum security needs to keep her out of there.

Fortunately neither one of us ended up going over the side of the big ramp. But it was close.

Posted by nemo at February 16, 2009 1:03 PM

comment #18

actionman says ...

Mission to Mars is an insultingly bad film. And I say this as a big-time De Palma fan.

Posted by actionman at February 16, 2009 1:29 PM

comment #19

Calraigh Bracken says ...

Eh, Naomi Watts was in this movie, right? Does she have literally nothing to do in it?

Posted by Calraigh Bracken at February 16, 2009 1:30 PM

comment #20

LeroyBrown says ...

Actionman--Yeah, I've seen Avalon, and while I wasn't crazy about Mueller-Stahl in it, my antipathy towards him didn't start until around the time of Shine. The last few years, whenever I see he's sleepwalking through something, I kind of wonder if I should skip it. But I actually liked him on on first encounter in Fassbinder's Lola, and in several German movies thereafter.

Posted by LeroyBrown at February 16, 2009 4:03 PM

comment #21

LeroyBrown says ...

Also, Calraigh, "literally nothing" about sizes up Naomi Watts' role in this. Somebody needs to give that woman a good part.

Posted by LeroyBrown at February 16, 2009 4:04 PM

comment #22

Calraigh Bracken says ...

I agree Leroy, another Mulholland Dr. is what's needed. I don't want to have to endure Funny Games in order to see her on the screen, fine as it was.

Posted by Calraigh Bracken at February 16, 2009 5:02 PM

comment #23