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Amazon.co.uk Review
The International is actually two movies in one: A highbrow thriller about a sprawling bank that resorts to murder and arms sales to retain its power, and a sleek visual essay on how architecture and interior design shapes your perceptions. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen, still not quite a star despite Inside Man and Children of Men) has been on the brink of conclusive evidence against the villainous international bank,but his sources always end up dead. With the aid of a Manhattan district attorney (Naomi Watts in a woefully underwritten part), he stumbles on the trail of the bank's favourite hit man, who might provide the (literally) smoking gun Louis needs. The International starts out smooth and silky, with visual style to burn and Owen's intense fervour. The plot gradually bogs down in incoherent moralising, but along the way there are some taut sequences, including a bloody shootout in the Guggenheim Museum where alliances shift unexpectedly. But what makes The International worth seeing is director Tom Tykwer's astute eye for public space: Chic postmodern buildings, broad Italian plazas, Turkish rooftops like mountain paths--Tykwer orchestrates actors through these architectural shapes, his hypnotic visual sense creating far more tension and excitement than the plot. Also featuring Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises) and Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration) as malevolent Europeans. --Bret Fetzer
Stills from The International (click for larger image)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
This review is for the Blu-ray.
This was a stylish film, with some remarkable cinematography. It toured some very prominent, spectacular buildings and certainly did them proud. At the same time it did bluray proud. HD lends itself perfectly to wide outdoor shots, big canvasses and dramatic vistas. So Picture Quality was very good, with very good colours, good lighting and a great deal of impressive street scenes- never mind the shoot-out at The Guggenheim.
Sound was also very good with a Dolby TrueHD track that gave some impressive effects and if anything it surpassed the excellent picture.
So why only 3 stars? Well the story and interpretation just don't make it. Clive Owen was good, but some of the lesser characters were very two-dimensional. The plot also left too many loose ends that were never resolved, and it didn't end so much as fizzle out. It filled a Saturday evening, and I have no regrets in buying it.
It's worth watching out for the other version though. At the time of writing the price is almost identical, and the other version is a triple play pack, with a DVD copy and a digital copy included in addition to the Blu-ray.
This was a stylish film, with some remarkable cinematography. It toured some very prominent, spectacular buildings and certainly did them proud. At the same time it did bluray proud. HD lends itself perfectly to wide outdoor shots, big canvasses and dramatic vistas. So Picture Quality was very good, with very good colours, good lighting and a great deal of impressive street scenes- never mind the shoot-out at The Guggenheim.
Sound was also very good with a Dolby TrueHD track that gave some impressive effects and if anything it surpassed the excellent picture.
So why only 3 stars? Well the story and interpretation just don't make it. Clive Owen was good, but some of the lesser characters were very two-dimensional. The plot also left too many loose ends that were never resolved, and it didn't end so much as fizzle out. It filled a Saturday evening, and I have no regrets in buying it.
It's worth watching out for the other version though. At the time of writing the price is almost identical, and the other version is a triple play pack, with a DVD copy and a digital copy included in addition to the Blu-ray.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It was an intelligent subject dealt with in an adult manner. The cinematography and the music were great; if it had had a Bourne budget it might have been better received.
The marketing picture of a machine gun-toting Clive Owen protecting a 'helpless' Naomi Watts really didn't help matters.
A good solid intelligent film; hard to find one these days
The marketing picture of a machine gun-toting Clive Owen protecting a 'helpless' Naomi Watts really didn't help matters.
A good solid intelligent film; hard to find one these days
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
This is a film full of great cinematography and breathtaking, super-sharp HD shots, accompanied by a compelling HD soundtrack. Tom Tykwer, the German director best known for his film version of Süsskind's "Das Parfum", often seems to have more of an eye for the architecture than for his actors, but both are usually impressive. Clive Owen originally did not convince me in this kind of role, but he is getting steadily more believable. He is of course dwarfed by the acting talents of Armin Müller-Stahl, who recently also starred in the filming of Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks", but that's seniority for you.
The plot is not particularly complex but quite refreshing; it tackles finance with almost as much invention and sophistication as "Syriana" tackles the oil-business. In trying to be a cut above the average thriller, there are scenes where they self-consciously try to work-up the dialogue and hover around pseudo-philosophical areas. This works at some times better than others. Clive Owen occasionally stumbles on duff dialogue such as the "I'm the one you burn" metaphor about crossing and burning bridges. I didn't really find the plot twist concerning a certain character's change of heart that convincing either.
Nevertheless this is a fast-paced film that easily fills 2 hours with events rather than trundling along. It is a joy to look at and to listen to on Blu-Ray, and has enough imagination to keep you gripped throughout. Not the world's best ending ever, but better than an unrealistic one, I suppose. Solid four stars. I took one star off for the occasionally queasy dialogue when the film tries to wax philosophical and falls well short of the depth it seems to be aiming at.
The plot is not particularly complex but quite refreshing; it tackles finance with almost as much invention and sophistication as "Syriana" tackles the oil-business. In trying to be a cut above the average thriller, there are scenes where they self-consciously try to work-up the dialogue and hover around pseudo-philosophical areas. This works at some times better than others. Clive Owen occasionally stumbles on duff dialogue such as the "I'm the one you burn" metaphor about crossing and burning bridges. I didn't really find the plot twist concerning a certain character's change of heart that convincing either.
Nevertheless this is a fast-paced film that easily fills 2 hours with events rather than trundling along. It is a joy to look at and to listen to on Blu-Ray, and has enough imagination to keep you gripped throughout. Not the world's best ending ever, but better than an unrealistic one, I suppose. Solid four stars. I took one star off for the occasionally queasy dialogue when the film tries to wax philosophical and falls well short of the depth it seems to be aiming at.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
70s style plot... stunning cinematography.... but :
its not perfect because the casting threw up some strange choices for some characters and the type of suspense required for such a film just fell short. Read more
Published 7 months ago by JrF
Bit of a let down
Only one good scene, the shoot-out at the Guggenheim Museum. The rest of the movie went by the book and was rather lackluster. The ending also came across as contrived.
Published 12 months ago by MJ. (scary drood)
Solid Action
Clive Owen is the perfect hard man in this above average action film. Owen plays an interpol agent investigating the shady going ons at the I.B.C. Read more
Published 13 months ago by ekb
The International
The International is a very run of the mill action thriller. Clive Owen is excellently moody and the scene in the guggenheim is enjoyably action packed but make no mistake The... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jim Jim
A solid thriller full of beautiful architecture & locations
This wasn't a great film but it had lots to offer and was more than OK. The story revolves around the shadowy world of international banks and their sometimes very questionables... Read more
Published 15 months ago by The Truth
The thinking persons thriller.
Intelligent action movie set in the Financial Industry and based on the True Story of the BCCI Bank. Read more
Published 19 months ago by conrad143
Disappointing
The plot attemtps to picture a major conspiracy, but director's/producers lack of attention to detail and poor believability (ref Stanislavsky) kills it completely... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Nomad in Caledonia
I'd rather have a Barclays....*
Words fail me!
Well, here's a few to be going on with: vapid, insipid, dull, meaningless, silly,
boring, flatulent.
What were they all thinking? Read more
Well, here's a few to be going on with: vapid, insipid, dull, meaningless, silly,
boring, flatulent.
What were they all thinking? Read more
Published 20 months ago by Bloodnock
Never again...
You are falsely promised from other cover of the dvd and the information available that this is an action film with twisting plotline which keeps you hooked. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Oliver Macfarlane
Taut Drama with Good Action Sequences and Excellent Cinematography
I bought this on Blu-ray as a bit of a gamble and not knowing much about the film; I was pleasantly surprised, as it is a very well presented action/drama with a plot of sufficient... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Laurence Williams
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