The International (2009)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

watched this last night and it was a great movie; however I felt like I needed more. Does anyone know if there is a sequel or what happens to the detective?you can email me at [email protected] gail

The genres for the International are: Thriller/Crime/Drama. From the get go, this is not a Drama, which emphasizes the internal, intimate moral decisions of the Hero. Yes, the story contained Drama elements, but it was not the genre of Drama. The designing principle that is the key to the heart of the story is defined in the Tag Line: "Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to find it." Revenge is not sweet, nor does it make a problem go away, as the Opponent so rightly states to the Hero. The Hero must deal with his Desire/Goal for revenge throughout the story. But the true spine of the story is encased in the genres of Thriller/Crime. We see the crime committed in the first 10 minutes of the story, and as an Inciting Incident, it serves to suck the Hero into action that will change his life forever. What could have been a story with intense Narrative Drive was lost because the screenplay writer decided to give this story a branching form, which took the audience off the Drive/Goal of the Hero. The blond, attractive D.A. was an add-on because as it was written, the Opponent did not try to block her from achieving the Goal. The bank/Main Opponent went after other players instead of going after the Hero and the D.A. By branching out this way and having the bank knock off obstacles INSTEAD of having the bank focus on knocking off the Hero and the D.A., her role was a waste AND the Narrative Drive slowed down. For the Thriller/Crime genre, the spine of the story must have intense Narrative Drive. When there are these two genres, the writer must make the decision as to which genre takes precedence for the spine. In the case of this story, the bank is knocking off opponents left and right - The bank should have been after the Hero and the D.A. This would have provided that punch-counter-punch that was lacking in the story. Also, the Hero and the D.A. would have been on the run while being pursued - which ups the Narrative Drive in this genre. The character of one of the Opponents is used as a mouthpiece for the writer's ideology - This is a no-no in story telling. The character loses his believability in the story and the message in his dialogue comes off as preachy. He's a Communist and goes on about the good and bad points of this ideology. The Hero also mouths very predictable ideology on Communism, which takes the story completely off the Narrative Drive because it really has nothing to do with the Hero's Desire/Goal. The Desire/Goal must be clear; must be one main Desire/Goal; the Hero must be passionate about achieving it. So this speech could have been edited out. The assassin was also a contrivance and part of the branching story line that detracted from the main story line of Thriller genre, which should have had a linear shape to it. The assassin could have been written into the story with a connection to the Hero in some way, which would have upped the ante for the Narrative Drive. The international locations were awesome, but again, the story went off the Narrative Drive by getting into the African nations issues and the Israeli/Arab issues, which should have been a montage or edited out because it slowed the Drive down. Cross-cut between various players associated with the bank would have increased the Narrative Drive in this genre - This would have given the blond D.A. a more intensive role instead of her having a car accident in the middle of the action to get her out of the action for a while, a contrivance again. In summary, the story premise was high-concept, the acting and directing were stellar, but the script was highly lacking key ingredients - Had these flaws been dealt with, the film could have been as high energy as the Bourne series, yet with a decidedly sophisticated high finance angle that could have also capitalized on the exotic settings and cultures of the the story world where the Hero is fighting to come to grips with his main Desire/Goal. The film could have been a 10 had the script flaws been corrected.

For me movies can be divided into cerebral as opposed to just going through the motions. For example The Firm -- similar plot to this in that little guy tries to take down corporate organized crime, however the script and plot twists in The Firm are great. I found the script in The International to be inane from the get-go. No lines stood out as memorable, so I can't quote any here, but here are couple scenes indicating the unbelievable and 'just going through the motions' quality of this film; by the way, I heard it lost a lot of money, no surprise. A) During machine gun shoot out, somehow like 15 guys mysteriously appear to compete in it. Reminds me of a low budget kung foo film. B) In the middle of the shoot out a main antagonist asks Clive Owen to help him take off his bullet proof vest -- of course he gets shot again and dies. Why keep your vest on when the bullets are flying? C) With hundreds of rounds fired, only a few guys get hit, and then a chandelier falls and kills two bad guys? Why bring an AK47 to a shoot out when you can just drop a chandelier to kill the bad guys? D)Three times during the movie a character offers a pathetic 'Are you OK?' Once when Naomi Watts gets run over by a car, Once when Clive Owen gets shot in the ear. Are you OK? No you freaking idiot, I just got hit with a car. And what was the point of Naomi getting run over? I never figured that out.In Conclusion, want to see a much better Clive Owen film, see Derailed. Inside Job with Owen not as good as Derailed, but still way above The International.

When I watched this film, I gotta say first, it was past midnight, I had to wake up early and I was tired. So, it means that I was not paying attention to all the details and the story. But overall, it's a good movie. Not some crap action movie with bad shooting scenes. This one is intelligent, well made and has some "meat around the bone" (no idea if that expression is used in English...). For me, the key scene is the shooting scene in the hall with all the white floors in the middle of the film. That was awesome! The level of violence we see in that part is so intense comparing to the rest of the film and I think that's a good way to "surprise" the audience. And it works! Definitely one of the best shooting scene ever. The rest of the film is good but I think that depends of the mood you are when you watch it. Actually you must be pretty awake if you want to follow what's happening on the screen. Another good point, NAOMI WATTS!!! Beautiful actress and...Am I the only one who noticed Francis Ford Coppola when they follow the guy in the street just before the shooting scene???!!! Anyway, for fans of spy, thrillers, action movies but still with true story and lots of politics and stuff are gonna like it.