I have a soft spot in my heart for conspiracy films. But I’m not sure why, because they always let me down. The trailer awakens my hunger for action mixed with a thought-provoking story, I convince myself that this time will be different than the last, and then two hours later, I leave the theater apologizing to my wife for yet another terrible movie.
(I should note here that I consider the Bourne movies—all three of them—exceptions to this rule.)
If you haven’t already guessed, I consider The International to be a colossal disappointment. Perhaps I should have known that going in, but can you blame me for hoping? Here we have an intelligence operative trying to take down an evil bank that hopes to prosper off the rebellions and wars of third world nations. Which means that in the end, the said evil bank should be crushed, right?
Wrong.
In essence, The International tries to do Andrew Niccol’s Lord of War all over again. “Corruption is insurmountable,” it says. “Break one of us, and another sleazy banker, politician, or special agent will take our place and continue our soul-sucking activities.” Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard that before. Lots. We don’t need another movie to tell us what we already know, thank you very much.
Perhaps the most offensive part of this film is its non-ending. Owen’s character (INTERPOL agent Louis Salinger) isn’t even given the dignity of an anti-hero. He’s a failure, a lost cause. Nothing he can do can stop the bank, or the corruption, or the warfare. There’s a slim hope that his forcibly alienated partner (played by Naomi Watts) may one day make a small dent. But definitely not enough to turn the tide. Which means that you’ve just spent two hours of your life watching a movie that says, “Hey, true change is impossible.” *yawn*
I will say, however, that it was satisfying to see the Guggenheim riddled with bullet-holes. That, if nothing else, was fun.
Tom Twyker has always been hit-or-miss for me. The last film of his that I wanted to watch was Perfume: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396171/