The International: A brief review

The International tells the story of Clive Owen as INTERPOL Agent Salinger.

Like all of Clive Owen’s characters, Salinger has a perpetual 5 o’clock shadow and looks like he wears his suits to bed. Salinger is on a mission to take down the International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC).

And we don’t need this movie to tell us (but we know) that big multi-national banks are eeevil. The IBBC is behind all sorts of nasty dealings and anybody with any concrete information to move against them winds up dead.

It’s rather fortuitous that this film hit theaters now. I imagine it was probably produced before last year’s financial fuck-all and it’s ending is surprisingly realistic with respect to what ultimately becomes of the bank. Anybody looking for a searing end where the IBBC goes up in flames will be disappointed; the ending is far more in line with what would actually happen.

But that’s not to say that villains don’t get what’s coming to them.

The International surprised me. The weekends between Jan. 1 and May 1 tend to be where studios either dump films they know are schlock or use the time as a testing ground for potential franchises. The International, however, is actually not bad. It’s not great, but it’s a decent thriller and, while not super-realistic, it does have its moments, divulging disturbing truths about the ways of the financial sector.

All in all it manages to present a decent plot without overloading it with unnecessary fluff.