Beware of dodgy bankers

Introduction

The International follows the story of the IBBC, an international banking group with power and influence who seem to be immune from prosecution. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) is working with American assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) to investigate the affairs of the bank. With the help of various local police forces around the world, they believe that they can bring these corrupt bankers to justice. The investigation leads Salinger from Berlin to Istanbul (via Milan and New York). Naturally, the bankers are none too keen on being brought to justice, and will do anything and everything to protect their interests and their ill-gotten gains.

Video and Audio

As usual nowadays, an excellent 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is presented. Everything looks crisp and sharp and there are some very nice locations used here, including the Autostadt in Germany (here representing the HQ of the bank) and the Guggenheim in New York (which is featured in the video game-like running battle sequence), although most of that was shot elsewhere. There's a nice little rooftop chase dropped in at one point, and several other cracking cinematographic touches, particularly during the final scene.

Again, as you would expect, a very good DD5.1 soundtrack, which really comes into its own during the shootout in the museum (gunfire everywhere) but also has quieter and more reflective moments.

Extra Features

The main extra is the commentary track featuring Tom Tykwer (director) and Eric Singer (writer). This gives lots of background about the film and the story, and they talk about shooting, locations, the cast and all manner of things. Well worth a listen after you've watched the film.

Next up we have a 30 minute "making of" documentary, which covers the whole process of making the film. There's some repetition from the commentary, but not enough to annoy you, and this is a good little documentary, far better than the "extended trailer" type that cynics like me have come to expect!

There are three further featurettes which cover other aspects of making the film:-

Shooting at the Guggenheim - does exactly what it says on the tin, as it covers this section of the film-making process.
The Architecture - a look at all the different types of architecture on show in the film from the ancient right up to...
The Autostadt - the home of the Volkswagen theme park in Germany. This was the first film ever to shoot there, and this piece covers that process.

There's also a long deleted scene as well as trailers for BluRay and for other films from Sony.

Conclusion

A very good thriller about international conspiracies, cover ups, assassinations and bankers. The story is very like some of the books that I read, and it appealed to me straight away.

In the extras, the film-makers talk about the obvious parallels between the fictional IBBC and the real life collapsed bank the BCCI, which was an inspiration for this story which has been years in the making. For those not up to speed with their early 1990s current affairs, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a major international bank registered in Luxembourg, founded in Karachi in 1972. It was one of the largest private banks in the world. But it became the subject of lots of investigation from intelligence agencies and regulatory bodies around the world, as it continually avoided becoming regulated by various banking authorities. The investigation concluded that the BCCI had been "set up to deliberately avoid centralized regulatory review, and operated extensively in bank secrecy jurisdictions. Its affairs were extraordinarily complex. Its officers were sophisticated international bankers whose apparent objective was to keep their affairs secret, to commit fraud on a massive scale, and to avoid detection." It had its own groups of companies and an intelligence network.

That's essentially what this film is about. A big bank that gets up to some very shady things indeed, and an investigative team who will do whatever they can (including stepping outside of the laws that they uphold) to bring them to justice. Clive Owen is perfectly cast as the lead investigator in this film. There are hints of Bourne and Bond about him, but without the ludicrous action sequences. Don't get me wrong, they can be fun to watch, but it's nice to see a thriller that doesn't need to use them to keep a story moving at a fast pace. This lack of high-octane action seemed to turn off American viewers, but I think it's a refreshing change.

The other main star is Naomi Watts, who I initially dismissed as "Paltrow Lite", but she does a much better job than that, concentrating on her character's intellectual qualities rather than anything else.

It all adds up to a very good film, well worth watching. It's an action thriller, but with the action reined in and kept under control. There's espionage, conspiracy, murder, gunmen on rooftops and cover ups galore. There's one big action set piece, which is very well done. And there's plenty to keep the brain working during the "slower" moments. In fact there's so much going on with the various characters involved, I'd argue that there aren't slower moments.

If you want mindless action, look somewhere else. If you prefer something a little more thought out, this is the film for you.

Recommended.