At the Movies with Fatwayne

In my experience, most memorable movies have a spceial scene or singular theme that will cause you to remember it. Now, I am not telling you that this is a memorable movie – far from it. It does, however, possess one of the most thrilling shootouts ever filmed in a most remarkable setting. It takes place in the Guggenheim in Manhattan along the spiraling walkway. It is also a quite long sequence with more non stop action than you can handle. Thousands of bullets and almost as many hit-men’s bodies assail the viewer. Perhaps this is somewhat of an exaggeration (not the bullet part!) but it is truly unforgettable.

I am sad to report that the rest of the film for the most part can’t match the above scene.  In fact, this is a thinking person’s film since you must pay attention or perhaps miss an important fact or clue.

The International is all about big business and  the insatiable greed we associate with it. The business in this case is the International Bank of Business and Credit based in Luxembourg. It is a corporation suspected (and rightfully so) of dealing in arms and funding terrorism and conflicts around the world. In the end it is all about wealth and power. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) is on the trail of this “baddie bank” and manages to persuade one of the bank’s executives to aid  him in his quest since  the bank will not allow anyone to get too close or know too much about their dealings. The executive aiding Louis is Whilhelm Wexler (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who does a nice job of acting here and he is most convincing as the somewhat reticent bank executive who seems to feel that things are getting out of control, at least for him. Louis Salinger tells Wexler in an attempt to get him to cooperate “sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”

Wexler, for his part,  tries to explain to Salinger just how deep this whole thing goes into governments, industry and law enforcement. He tells him that it is impossible to stem this activity within the confines of the law.  One other little tidbit Wexler lays on Salinger is “The IBBC is a bank. Their objective is not to control a conflict but the debt it produces. The real value of a conflict is, the true value, is in the debt that it creates. You control the debt, you control everything.”

To facilitate this debt production the IBBC goes about its business of selling missiles, missile defense systems and small arms to anyone and everyone.  Now Interpol in the person of Salinger teams up with Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts), who is an assistant DA in Manhattan, in trying to bring this titan of business to justice.

I found the story to lag a bit and I would have liked to have seen more action. The location shots were enjoyable and the supporting actors all did a good job. The ending did harbor a little surprise involving a crisis of conscience that gave Louis Salinger a hard time. I think that I can recommend this film to you and still have a good nights sleep!

Quotes from this movie can be viewed at  http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/theinternational.htm

Rated – R -

Fatwayne’s rating  –  -