Review

Review Date: 22-February-09
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

The International (2009)

On a cerebral level The International examines different forms of justice ranging from legal methods (which may be futile) to personal obsessions (which are limited by scale and morality) to clannish vendettas (which sometimes get the job done). But the effect of the film is not especially cerebral. Its principal impression is of a knotted string of postcard-worthy locations and grim-looking men centered around the edgy-cool Clive Owen. As such it is sporadically entertaining without having much impact.

The reason why legal methods of justice do not work within this movie is because the villain is a bank whose activities include arms trading and assassination and whose client base stretches round the globe. With believable certainty, the movie states that such an organization is untouchable by police, federal agencies like the CIA, and Interpol, for which Owen's character works as an investigator. Even so, his single focus in life is indicting the bank before a court and the world. He has failed for a number of years but is still hot on the quest, teamed at present with a U.S. district attorney played with negligible personality by Naomi Watts.

The first half of the picture takes place in Germany, Italy, France, and Luxembourg and emphasizes Owen's inability to find a toehold in the slippery fortress of his enemy. The plot finally reaches interesting dramatic territory with a nifty shoot-out in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. (Sorry, Frank Lloyd Wright, but you asked for it with that space!) By this point Owen's persistence has brought out hit men layered on hit men, and his last chance resides in getting one of the bank's consultants (Armin Mueller-Stahl) on his side. The two share a moment of understanding which shows that the script has more on its mind than the omnipotence of corporate behemoths. I like what Mueller-Stahl says about self-respect being easier to maintain than to restore. This notion leads to the finale in Istanbul where Owen must decide how far outside the law he is willing to go. While it is possible to care about his choice in the context of whether decency can remain uncorrupted by corruption, a viewer will likely leave The International with the rooftop alleys of Asia Minor in his head rather than any deep thought or thrill.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.