THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

Salt
The Expendables
The Last Airbender
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
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Case 39
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The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
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Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
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Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
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The Children
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The International
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Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Tom Tykwer. Starring Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Brian F. O'Byrne. Drama, Ger/UK/USA, 118 min. Web Site

Corporate greed, monetary crises, financial scandals and bank customers coerced into being slaves to debt. No, it’s not another normal newspaper headline day in Credit Crunch Land, but the basis for a taut and terrific thriller from director Tom Tykwer and writer Eric Warren Singer (the MTV animated AEON FLUX head scripter).

Tykwer’s movies can be good (RUN LOLA RUN, PERFUME), bad (THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR) and ugly (HEAVEN). Recently launched at the Berlinale, THE INTERNATIONAL is easily his best to date, one of those twisty Hitchcocktails of political intrigue, government corruption and business venality that zips around glamorous European locations and Manhattan transfers with RONIN-style glee. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) teams up with NYC Assistant DA Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) to bring down the multinational IBBC bank responsible for assassinations to increase their financial grip on the war on terror. Owen doesn’t quite suck the life out of his driven character as he is often prone to do and Watts is OK in her usual ‘couldn’t get Nicole part’. But what are so great about this timely view of man-made financial Armageddon, even though reminiscent of quintessential 70s classics, are Tykwer’s detailed and precision set pieces. The opening salvo in Berlin is Dario Argento fantastic, the sniping of Italy’s presidential candidate in Milan is VANTAGE POINT to the epic max, the traffic jam suspense highlight forges a FRENCH CONNECTION to Brian de Palma and the Guggenheim gallery shoot-out is nothing short of sensational. The latter, recreated in a German studio, is one of the best action sequences of its nostalgic type in ages.  Starting off against cold glass and steel backdrops before gradually moving towards ancient architecture, Tykwer’s look for THE INTERNATIONAL is post-modern Euro-spy and wonderfully effective. There’s some great lines of dialogue too – “I’m more comfortable tense”, ‘Control debt and you control everything’ “That’s the difference between fact and fiction, fiction has to make sense”.

In truth THE INTERNATIONAL doesn’t make that much sense once past the final credits. But I was gripped and thoroughly entertained. And in this gloomy era of the public feeling absolutely powerless venting our rage at a banking system that has ruined everything, how brilliant it is to see Owen and Watts actually do something about it on our vicarious behalf. 

Alan Jones

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