The International

Welcome to another episode of The "D" List.

Today's review is The International. Directed by Tom Twyker and written by Eric Singer.

The story of The International surrounds Interpol investigator Louis Salinger played by the very talented and underrated Clive Owen. He is obsessed with linking the The International Bank of Business and Credit or IBBC for short with dealing in arms sales to third world countries. He has been working with Manhattan assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman played by Naomi Watts. Another talented and underrated actress. Not to mention very easy on the eyes.

They find that the IBBC is the bank of choice for criminals and spy organizations with their money laundering activities. Following the money trail, they find that the banks illegal schemes help to destabilize small governments to a point where any new government owes their financial allegiance to the bank. Salinger and Whitman travel around the world trying to bring this evil bank to justice. Both are also being pressured from their bosses to shut the investigation down. However, they must be very careful, because the bank has a secret policy of eliminating any and all problems with someone ending up dead.

That is the bare bones plot to this bare bones thriller. To be honest, the only emotion that this film inspired was boredom. One of the obvious factors that hurts the film is the timing. With the state of the country's economy and failing banking system, it's hard to watch a movie starring a bank that's all powerful making money hand over fist from years of shady deals.

Another slip up and this is a major one, is the suspension of disbelief that's required to go through the plot of this film. It's established right at the beginning that this bank is an untouchable powerhouse tied to various elements of crime and corruption all over the world. So who is spearheading the effort to bring it down? A burned out Interpol agent and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office? PLEASE!

It also doesn't help that the men running the bank don't inspire fear or control. In fact as the story progresses one of the bank's deals starts to fall apart and instead of maintaining the status quo, several of the higher ups act like scared children. Not a good way to show off your top guns when you are supposed to be invincible and above the law. Those scenes established that despite the craziness of the staff, the man in charge was always levelheaded which is what you saw. WEAK!

They also "troubleshoot" problems with the same assassin. Another bonehead idea. Why would you want to have one person involved with all your clean up efforts. That person has all the knowledge needed to bury you if given the opportunity (and trust me that scenario comes into play here) . You would want to vary your choices for those types of "jobs" and always contract them through outside the bank's sources so they couldn't be tied back to you.

I won't get into the final shootout at the Guggenheim. That scene was as gunfights go unbelievably laughable. I didn't know a 9mm handgun with a 15 round magazine had the capability to fire 30 plus rounds without a reload. The magic of hollywood or the lack of continuity? You make the call.

The International was another failed attempt to make a thriller where an evil corporation flexes their "running the world" muscles only to be taken down by an unlikely adversary. It doesn't make sense to me. There have been other films that have pulled off a similar theme and have done it much more effectively. Michael Clayton comes to mind as a recent example. It's a shame too since the cast was very solid and their talents are wasted here.

On the 5 star scale The International gets 2 stars and a "Netflix It" recommendation.

My next review will be Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised here but I'm not holding my breath.

Until Next Episode....I'll Save You a Seat!

"D"