Feb 12, 2009 2:15 pm US/Eastern
'The International'
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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Equal parts globe-trotting thriller and architecture porn, as perfectly crystallized by its mind-blowing central set piece: a seemingly endless shootout at the Guggenheim Museum.
AP
Equal parts globe-trotting thriller and architecture porn, as perfectly crystallized by its mind-blowing central set piece: a seemingly endless shootout at the Guggenheim Museum.
The back story of how Tom Tykwer and Co. shot it is about as complicated as the plot of the film itself. The scene is so elaborate and ambitious, it's enough to make you wonder whether the earliest nugget of Eric Warren Singer's script began with the idea: "Hey, this sounds crazy, but what if we staged a big, bloody shootout along Frank Lloyd Wright's famously pristine, white ramps?"
Oh yes, and other events take place during "The International," but none that will leave you with quite the same breathless impression. Tykwer, the German director who wowed audiences a decade ago with his pulsating "Run, Lola, Run," once again keeps the action moving fluidly in this, his largest film to date.
But there's also an undercurrent of gritty substance, a tortured tone that harkens to the action dramas of the 1970s. A sexily rumpled Clive Owen stars as Interpol agent Louis Salinger, who's investigating some potentially shady dealings at one of the world's most powerful banks.
When one of his undercover associates gets murdered while on the case, Salinger teams up with Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (a strangely stiff Naomi Watts) to uncover not just that killing but the bank's myriad worldwide transgressions.
Character development is a bit lacking, but Owen engages in one great battle of wits with the formidable Armin Mueller-Stahl as the bank's shadowy adviser.
R for some sequences of violence and language. 118 min.
Three stars out of four.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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