The International, by Eric Warren Singer - 7 out of 10

The International, by Eric Warren Singer
7 out of 10


Clive Owen is a captivating,charismatic, strong, excellent, indeed, one of the best actors in the world.
He is also helped by Naomi Watts and Armin Mueller - Stahl, two other heavyweights that act with superb skill.

Alas, even this trio cannot pull off such a complicated, at times preposterous plot as this film has.
The many viewers who believe in conspiracy theories might very well love the idea that a bank buys missiles and rockets, arms in general, and kills many of those it deals with.

Some way into the feature one may think most of the key partners and clients would die...
Clive Owen has the role of an Interpol agent, Louis Salinger.

In the first scene, he is close to a man who dies on the street.
He is suspected of having had a heart attack, but the imaginative Interpol agent sees a small hall at the back of his neck and suspects poisoning.

A major bank is suspected in a controversial death which took place outside the Berlin railway station.
The German authorities nevertheless deny the request for an official investigation.

IBBC is the name of this behemoth that buys Chinese missiles and rockets, for they are supposed to be the only ones able to offer the goods quickly and at affordable prices.
They pass the weapons on to others and are involved in other criminal activities.

At one point, they have at the IBBC headquarters a special guest, a general from a country whose name sounds like Nigeria, talking with their apparent CEO, Jonas Skarssen.
A coup d'etat would be financed by the big bank.

And we see at the news that their mischievous, ghastly plan is working.
One major player in this vicious game is shot in broad daylight, in a public square in Milan, in front of a large crowd.

Enzo Calvini is a disgruntled partner, owner of one of the two companies able to provide guiding systems for the missiles.
He explains how this scheme works...

The bank provides the weapons and is interested in offering the loans.
The wars are important in establishing who has the control of the debt...

To me this sounds not just far fetched but plain false.
Countries often decide to not pay what they owe, even those who have not been through a war.

Think about Argentina and its refusal under the Kirshners to honor the national debt.
Granted, it brings headaches, but it happens.

So the idea that a major bank would want to have such terrible clients, potentially insolvable, appears as idiotic.
But hey,banks have done such stupid things...

2008 rings so many bells and Too Big to Fail is a fantastic film to watch.
The International alas is to be missed.

For with all the heavy guns involved in the motion picture, a supposedly sophisticated but in reality flawed plot makes one disengage.
The agents travel to Milan, Istanbul - where there is even a chase and a revenge killing on top of the houses- New York, but all this change of scenery does not change a feeling of tedium and we end up dismissing an ambitious but failed script.