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Clive Owen Vs. Modern Art | The Guggenheim gets pretty much destroyed by the time The International is through with it.

The International

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THE INTERNATIONAL
Directed by Tom Tykwer. Starring Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Ulrich Thomsen, Armin Mueller-Stahl. Now playing.
***

It’s not the greatest idea to release a movie about an devious, all-powerful financial institution only a few months after the collapse of Wall Street, but maybe the producers of The International hope the prospect of seeing Clive Owen unloading a handgun into a few bankers will be enough to draw viewers in. Unfortunately, what ends up getting shot the most in the movie — by the evil bank’s goons, no less — is the art in the Guggenheim.

The film starts on a subtler note, with Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and New York assistant district attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) launching an investigation into the operations of the International Bank of Business and Credit. Their inquiry is spurred on by the death of one of their colleagues, who mysteriously expires moments after meeting with an IBBC informant. Much of the first half of the film is spent following Salinger and Whitman to exotic locations across Europe as they discover that the head of the IBBC, Jonas Skarssen (Ulrich Thomsen), has gotten the bank involved with illegal arms dealing. Given the amount of time it takes for Salinger and Whitman to uncover this simple fact, you begin to suspect all the characters’ travelling is merely an excuse for on-location filming. At least director Tom Tykwer (of Run Lola Run fame) makes sure to frame his shots in a way that captures all the nice architecture.

As for the sinister bank and its evil plans, if you were to ask, “What does a bank want with the buying and selling of missiles?” the best answer The International gives is that they earn a small margin of profit. They also gain influence with foreign governments, which they will use to do ... uh ... something — they just haven’t decided what yet. I bet it’s evil, though.

Eric Singer’s script is less concerned with explicating why the

IBBC’s business dealings are criminal than showcasing his love of gadgets, as in a laughable scene wherein Naomi Watts interrogates someone via Blackberry. Such a focus on technology leaves little room for complex characters: Salinger and Whitman are idealists constantly telling their superiors they will go rogue to bring the IBBC to justice — but we aren’t told why we should care.

However, just when it starts to look like The International plans on dragging its heels all the way to the finish, the plot is abruptly interrupted by a violent shootout in the Guggenheim between Salinger, a bunch of hitmen, and an assassin with a leg brace. The scene lasts 20 minutes, but little happens other than people ducking behind ledges, shooting, more ducking, and a whole lot of fine art getting destroyed. Nevertheless, the sequence effectively grabs the viewer’s attention after an unremarkable first hour. And the story actually starts to get kind of interesting too.

It’s rare that a movie about a good-agent-gone-rogue follows through on the consequences of such a scenario, but refreshingly, The International does just that: in its final reel, the characters awake from their clichés and attempt to be interesting. And they do so in scenic Istanbul, too! This last crack at originality is just enough to elevate The International from numbingly dull to intriguingly mediocre.