So - very delayed, on account of the Irish Comic Relief, which ran much later than advertised - the late film on telly tonight was The International. I was rather glad they still showed it, because this is one I noticed, but never did get to. So, given that I don't have to be up early tomorrow, I watched it.
This is the one where Clive Owen is a rogue Interpol agent, and Naomi Watts the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney. They're collaborating on trying to bring down a bank involved in money laundering - one of the chief bank officials is Armin Mueller-Stahl.
Fair dues to the filmmakers for constructing a decently complicated plot. We get a thorough explanation of the bank's nefarious dealings - and motives - early on. But never fear, you only need to know they're the bad guys. We also get a whole ring of complicated associations - but never fear, everyone that contacts the investigators gets killed pretty quickly. To tidy up loose ends, the assassins also get killed pretty quickly after.
I found the plot more interesting than the action sequences - although one prolonged shootout did make me wonder how, and from whom, the third parties involved would recoup damages afterwards! Despite all the damage, I suspect it'd be pretty tricky to determine liability. Anyway, Naomi Watts gets to avoid all the violent bits - apart from a lame attempt to run her over (and how is it that they're so good at killing trained assassins, but so awful at killing the investigators?).
Whenever the action happens, she's incapacitated (sprains her wrist after the attempt to run her over and has to rest up), or her boss has pulled her off the case, figuring that they'll never bring down such a powerful bank, or Clive Owen tells her to stay out of it, if not for her own sake, then for that of her family. Yes, the token woman has a token family - just the one child, it seems (otherwise, how could she be so successful?), and a suitably hands-on dad. So we have sympathy for him, and we don't want to see him hurt either. Cue her exit from the story, and the progression of the action, and shootouts. She appears just once more, brought on to look concerned when Clive Owen seems to have had a breakdown. (And to give him the means and motivation to progress to the next level of the game..)
The film is suitably international, taking place in New York, Luxembourg, Berlin, Italy (I missed where exactly), and Istanbul. And it was made in 2009 - I looked it up, after seeing Naomi Watts use a Blackberry! If not for that, you probably wouldn't notice much difference from the present day. And if not for all that action they had to choreograph, they'd have had more time for the plot, and I personally would've been much more interested. Do watch over the closing credits - they cleverly display a variety of financial newspaper stories, to summarise what happens next.. Glad I didn't pay to see it, though.
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