Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Don’t let Tom Tykwer’s name on this fool you. While I did enjoy this film, it has a few issues that are really going to affect people, chief among them being the expectation game. When you think of an international intrigue film starring Clive Owen and directed by the man behind Run, Lola, Run, you don’t think of a film best described as being most like The Conversation. But that’s exactly what this is. The International isn’t a fast paced action film or an edge of your seat thriller. It is a slow burn conspiracy film that puts more thought and focus into its message than it does into being thrilling.
Not that this is a bad thing, but the audience I saw this with gave it a rather cold reception. It’s a slow, methodical procedural about two investigators (one from Interpol and the other from the NYC District Attorney’s Office) looking into a number of murders surrounding a bank and their involvement in a weapons deal. The problem here is that despite the solid premise, a good procedural hinges on us not knowing who the bad guy is. But here, we are treated to a number of scenes with the schemers planning and plotting. Because the film isn’t about WHO DUNNIT? It’s about laying out how banks and bankers manipulate world events through the juggling and ownership of debt. After all, if you can buy up enough of a country’s toxic debt or loan them more money than they can immediately pay back, what CAN’T you get them to do?
Well that’s what really drives this film as it lays out an elaborate plot that involves any number of foreign governments. It is a think piece explaining in mostly common terms how we’re all being fucked – without ever being as condescending or heavy handed as most of these films tend to be (I’m looking at you Blood Diamond.) And that is where Tykwer’s influence is felt the strongest. He never treats the audience like they’re dumb and need to be talked down to. Trouble is…audiences are dumb, and often need to be talked down to. This is a film that appears to be ready to turn into a car chase at any moment. And while there are a smattering of tense sequences – a handful of chases and one absolutely INCREDIBLE action set piece – the bulk of the film is people talking. Granted it is people having conversations in all sorts of exotic locales – but it is still people talking. And the audience got BORED.
I’ll admit I spent the better part of the film waiting for something to happen. But once everything played out in the last scene, all the pieces of what Tykwer was busy setting up became apparent and upon reflection I enjoyed it immensely. But in order to really enjoy it, it has to be upon reflection. Because there’s not an awful lot for the audience to chew on until then. Every single procedural moment involves us watching the investigators AFTER we’ve witnessed the crime. So they’re figuring out what we already know. Every time. And that’s a bit tedious. While it truly does reflect the unfortunate truth of investigative work, it doesn’t make for an exciting two hours.
Clive Owen is great as Clive Owen, giving us the intensity we’ve come to crave from him. Someone asked me afterwards if I was tired of Owen always playing himself to which I promptly told him to go fuck himself and never take the name of the Clive in vain again. Owen does one thing VERY WELL. And he does it again here. Naomi Watts on the other hand seems a bit bored with playing the same role over and over and phones a few of her scenes in – but is mostly solid. But they really do have their work cut out for them. They’re playing opposite an unstoppable villain, the international banking industry. And they are, for the most part, useless pawns in a much larger game. And that’s a rough part to play.
And really, when all is said and done, most people are going to take issue with how bleak a story it is. Personally, that’s what I love about it. The ending really rings of Gene Hackman in The Conversation, with him tearing his whole house apart, flailing against an unkillable, invisible Big Brother. It’s not the same – but it is the spiritual kindred of that sequence. And cinephiles eager to drink in the subtleties of Tykwer’s vision will enjoy it. But action starved Owen fans are going to see this as a big disappointment. They’ll marvel at the one big shoot out. But the rest of the film is going to be a wash for them, which is a real shame. There’s a strong message here, and one that isn’t rammed down your throat – it is simply the dangers of a debt based system put in laymen’s terms. It’s interesting that in the middle of the worst economic meltdown in living memory, we have a weekend beset with two lesson based movies from Hollywood explaining the topic in simple terms (this and the female aimed Confessions of a Shopaholic.) Unfortunately while both contain extremely important lessons, neither proves to be the type of film that will really resonate with the audiences that need them most.
This is a good film, it really is. But don’t go in expecting a nail biter. It isn’t one.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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