An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Tom Tykwer.
Cast: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich Thomsen, James Rebhorn, Brian F O'Byrne
Description: Interpol Agent Louis Salinger uncovers evidence of serious infringements within one of the world's most powerful banks and resolves to bring the upper echelons of the boardroom to justice. Joining forces with Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman, Louis follows the money trail around the globe, travelling from Berlin and Milan to New York and Istanbul in the hope of gathering enough proof to expose the dodgy dealings. However, the men and women in power will stop at nothing to protect their investments. Uncertain who to trust, Louis and Eleanor put their lives on the line to expose the corruption and lies.
Country: US. 2009. 117mins
Crowded out: Clive Owen as Interpol operative Louis Salinger and Naomi Watts as lawyer Eleanor Whitman
It’s a shame for Tom Tykwer that Paul Greengrass’s Bourne movies have set a standard to which most other purveyors of international thrillers can only aspire. A shame, too, that this German director, who surprised us all with the energetic and pop-savvy Run Lola Run, isn’t quite the man as he was. Perfume, his last film, was stylish and successful but not up to Lola’s mark. And nor is The International.
It’s slick enough, moving over Europe and America in quick time and shooting its big cities, with their sleek and shiny buildings, with some eloquence. It is also reasonably timely, since its villains are bankers and financiers, portrayed as unprincipled dealers in the goods of multinational weapons manufacturers.
Its heroes are played by Clive Owen, once tipped as Bond, and Naomi Watts, once captured by a very large ape, and we see them jetting around Lyon, Milan, Berlin, Istanbul and New York looking for the men behind the banking corporation that is not afraid to kill in order to maintain its share price and market position.
Owen plays Louis Salinger, a grumpy and unshaven Interpol operative, while Watts is Eleanor Whitman, a slightly dishevelled lawyer from the New York District Attorney’s office. Eleanor is married to a nice man who rather resents her being away so often. Louis is apparently single and seems permanently under stress. He stamps on an audio recorder at one point and is generally not in the best of tempers. There is no romance between the two.
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Though The International starts decently enough, its flailing action set-pieces and dialogue such as “sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it” drag it down to a very pedestrian level.
Even the violent showdown at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum isn’t as good as it could be, merely laying waste to almost everything in sight as if it were a madcap shooting gallery.
Brian F O’Bryne plays the bank’s hit man, Ulrich Thomsen is the Scandinavian boss of the truant Luxembourg bank and the veteran Armin Mueller-Stahl, who worked for Fassbinder and others of the New German Cinema of the Seventies, is as watchable as ever as a former Stasi agent with a more profitable career.
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Well,that's your opinion.
I think the brilliant Paul Greengrass took it to another level entirely.And Bond's attempt to imitate was a complete mess.
- John, London
Why does everyone refer to the Bourne movies as Paul Greengrass's success? The original and best was directed by Doug Liman. All Greengrass did was copy the blueprint for two sequels, which were markedly inferior. Credit where credit is due!
- M Duncan, London
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