The International

[Dragonfire]

I decided to go see The International after seeing previews that made it look like a good thriller.  Unfortunately the movie didn't live up to the potential it had.

The International Bank of Business and Credit has been the subject of an investigation.  Every time it seemed like a break in the case was close, something would happen and witnesses would disappear.  Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent, had been investigating the bank for years and was a bit obsessed with the case.  An assistant district attorney from New York City, Eleanor Whitman, is also involved in the investigation since the IBBC does business in New York.  Some executives in the bank know about the investigation and are willing to do anything to keep doing business the same way.

I thought that the plot had the potential to be interesting with having a huge international bank mixed up in all kinds of criminal activities.  Those things seemed believable.  The movie wasn't as interesting as I had thought it would be and ended up having a slower pace as well, which did make some scenes drag on a bit too long.  The movie was promoted like a thriller with a lot of action.  I didn't think the movie was that thriller and it wasn't much of an action movie either.  With the exception of just a few scenes, there was no action in the movie.  The few action scenes, especially one, were done well even though they weren't that believable.  Louis was severely outnumbered during a shootout, yet he still managed to not only survive, but take out the bad guys.  They had automatic weapons and were spraying bullets everywhere, yet they mostly missed their targets.  There was only a little bit of suspense in a couple of scenes.  There really isn't any mystery to what is going on either.

Louis is really the only character to receive much attention and he still was rather flat since all was shared was really tied to his obsession with the investigation into the IBBC.  Clive Owen was fine in the part.  Naomi Watts didn't have as much to do and I think her scenes were filmed around her last pregnancy.  There were a lot of times when she was only filmed from the neck up.  She was ok in the part.  The bank executives were around in some scenes without much of anything being shared about them.  There really weren't any characters that were interesting in the movie.

The movie isn't horrible, but it isn't great either.  Fans of the cast might find something to like about the movie.  I just felt sort of...blah about this one I guess.  I rated the movie 3 stars on Epinions..barely.  Here I lean towards 

I did post a review on Epinions if anyone would like to take a look.

The International