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| Movie Review: The International Alternate Title: Kill All the Bankers
Story: Sadly, this film had
all of the ingredients to be a well made international thriller but
it never takes hold. It had fabulous locations, a fine cast but the
story had no focus and much of it was incomprehensible. As they say
- there was simply no there, there. Director Tom Tykwer
(Run, Lola, Run) knows how to make a stylish thriller but he
lost his way. Perhaps much of writer Eric Warren Singer's
film ended up on the cutting room floor. Who knows?
It seems that the big bad international bank
(International Bank of Business and Credit) got enormously rich by laundering
money for organized crime and terrorist groups. Now they want to broker
arms deals and control lots and lots of debt (or something like that).
Our disheveled hero, Louis Salinger has been chasing these banker crooks
for two years and he teams up in a cockamamie unexplained way with an
Asst. DA out of NYC, Eleanor Whitman. They run, they take trains, cars,
cabs and planes to try to outwit, outlast and capture these bad guys.
People are dying left and right and assassins are rampant. There is
an omnipresent depressing quality to the film as we discover how many
people are wrapped in the tentacles of this bank.
The best scene takes place in a recreated NYC's
Guggenheim Museum (recreated in an abandoned railway roundhouse in Berlin).
The shootout is almost 15 minutes long and was vastly entertaining,
not at all believable and great performance art.
Bottom line is this film could also have been
called: Actors in Search of a Plot.
Watch the trailer but keep in mind that some
of this action ended up on the cutting room floor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILj3HlaoOCg Acting: Clive Owen as the disheveled Interpol agent
is always fun to watch whether he is in a bad film or a good one. Naomi
Watts as the NYC DA could have been replaced by any Jane Doe.
Her talents were wasted. Armin Mueller-Stahl always
plays an excellent bad guy and Brían F. O'Byrne
as the assassin was okay. Trivia: In the original theater production of "Closer"
Clive Owen played the character Dan. In the film version he
played the other prominent male character, Larry, while Dan was played
by Jude Law. He only got the the role of King Arthur after Russell Crowe,
Mel Gibson and Hugh Jackman turned it down and after producer Jerry
Bruckheimer vetoed the director's choice of a then comparatively unknown
Daniel Craig. Naomi Watts is best friends with Nicole
Kidman, since a casting call for commercial when they were girls. She
has a Yorkshire terrier named Bob.
Predilection: I like thrillers but this was not very
thrilling. Critters: None
Food: I can't remember. I saw this over a week ago.
Sex Spectrum: No sex - too much running.
Blatant Product Placement: In an ironic product placement
the logo of Citibank was seen.
Opening Titles: An exciting teaser of an opening.
Visual Art: Milan, Turkey, Berlin, NYC all look mighty
fine.
Theater Audience: Five guys and me.
Weather: It was inclement enough for our hero to always
wear a raincoat.
Drift Factor: I looked at my watch often.
Predictability Level: Moderate to did not care.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: No
Big Screen or Rental: Rental would be fine.
Length: Two hours.
LOBO HOWLS: 5 |