The International (2009)

watched this last night and it was a great movie; however I felt like I needed more. Does anyone know if there is a sequel or what happens to the detective?you can email me at [email protected] gail

The genres for the International are: Thriller/Crime/Drama. From the get go, this is not a Drama, which emphasizes the internal, intimate moral decisions of the Hero. Yes, the story contained Drama elements, but it was not the genre of Drama. The designing principle that is the key to the heart of the story is defined in the Tag Line: "Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to find it." Revenge is not sweet, nor does it make a problem go away, as the Opponent so rightly states to the Hero. The Hero must deal with his Desire/Goal for revenge throughout the story. But the true spine of the story is encased in the genres of Thriller/Crime. We see the crime committed in the first 10 minutes of the story, and as an Inciting Incident, it serves to suck the Hero into action that will change his life forever. What could have been a story with intense Narrative Drive was lost because the screenplay writer decided to give this story a branching form, which took the audience off the Drive/Goal of the Hero. The blond, attractive D.A. was an add-on because as it was written, the Opponent did not try to block her from achieving the Goal. The bank/Main Opponent went after other players instead of going after the Hero and the D.A. By branching out this way and having the bank knock off obstacles INSTEAD of having the bank focus on knocking off the Hero and the D.A., her role was a waste AND the Narrative Drive slowed down. For the Thriller/Crime genre, the spine of the story must have intense Narrative Drive. When there are these two genres, the writer must make the decision as to which genre takes precedence for the spine. In the case of this story, the bank is knocking off opponents left and right - The bank should have been after the Hero and the D.A. This would have provided that punch-counter-punch that was lacking in the story. Also, the Hero and the D.A. would have been on the run while being pursued - which ups the Narrative Drive in this genre. The character of one of the Opponents is used as a mouthpiece for the writer's ideology - This is a no-no in story telling. The character loses his believability in the story and the message in his dialogue comes off as preachy. He's a Communist and goes on about the good and bad points of this ideology. The Hero also mouths very predictable ideology on Communism, which takes the story completely off the Narrative Drive because it really has nothing to do with the Hero's Desire/Goal. The Desire/Goal must be clear; must be one main Desire/Goal; the Hero must be passionate about achieving it. So this speech could have been edited out. The assassin was also a contrivance and part of the branching story line that detracted from the main story line of Thriller genre, which should have had a linear shape to it. The assassin could have been written into the story with a connection to the Hero in some way, which would have upped the ante for the Narrative Drive. The international locations were awesome, but again, the story went off the Narrative Drive by getting into the African nations issues and the Israeli/Arab issues, which should have been a montage or edited out because it slowed the Drive down. Cross-cut between various players associated with the bank would have increased the Narrative Drive in this genre - This would have given the blond D.A. a more intensive role instead of her having a car accident in the middle of the action to get her out of the action for a while, a contrivance again. In summary, the story premise was high-concept, the acting and directing were stellar, but the script was highly lacking key ingredients - Had these flaws been dealt with, the film could have been as high energy as the Bourne series, yet with a decidedly sophisticated high finance angle that could have also capitalized on the exotic settings and cultures of the the story world where the Hero is fighting to come to grips with his main Desire/Goal. The film could have been a 10 had the script flaws been corrected.

This Evil Corporation vs Honest Interpol Thriller has a lot going for it--Clive Owens menacing, broody good guy striving to maintain integrity in a dirty world, a good many flashy international locations,, each color-coded by the cinematographer, a literate. creepy turn by the excellent character actor Armin Mueller-Stahl, an insidiously effective music score that gets points not for bluster but for slinky underscoring, and as a high point, a kinetic, noisy, athletic, complex shootout in the circular confines of New York's Guggenheim Museum. No, this dark conspiracy film hasn't got constant violence and explosions, and no, it isn't always easy to follow, but yes, it's an intelligent thriller with plenty going for it, consistently entertaining.

The International involves an investigation into a powerful bank that is doing many terrible things and will destroy anyone who gets in its way. I didn't find this totally convincing. Corporations do many terrible things, but normally they don't instigate violence on a mass scale in first world countries, and this made the movie feel about as realistic as cop films in which mobsters blithely kill off large number of cops and politicians.But if you overlook that, this is a pretty good movie. The first half is essentially an investigative drama. Once again, there's a little bit of cliché involved in the way you've got a couple of smart investigators determined to find the truth while being hamstrung by their bosses. But it is interesting to watch the investigation proceed.The second half of the movie is livelier, most notably in a big shootout at the Guggenheim Museum that is pretty entertaining.But while this was well done, I didn't connect strongly with the movie. The leads were professional but a bit bland, the story, as I've said, seemed a little unrealistic, and the look was often a bit too monochromatic for me as so much of it took place in offices.I was torn between giving this a 6 or a 7. I feel it is a 7 in quality, but I think in terms of enjoyment I'm closer to 6.