Blu-ray Review: The International

As long as there are movies that require a rather dishevelled looking, likeable figure that isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, Clive Owen will always be in work.
In The International he plays Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent who is working to bring down one of the world’s most powerful banks, the IBBC.  For years Salinger has been trying to get an in with the notoriously secretive organisation that he believes is funding terrorist activity, money laundering and possibly stealing pocket money from small children.  If the plot sounds vaguely familiar, it is based around the real Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal.

One of Owen’s colleagues is murdered at the start of the movie after a particularly mysterious car park rendezvous with an executive from the bank (who himself later ends up sleeping with the fishes).  The bank seems to have eyes and ears everywhere, including a number of hit men who are sent out on contract killings to neutralise anyone who opposes the family…sorry, the bank.  But a Mafioso style family is little scarier than the prospect of the manager of your local HSBC waiting in the bushes to take you out with a stapler and some sharpened Post-It notes.
Salinger is working in conjunction with assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (the always delightful Naomi Watts) trying to build the case against the IBBC.  Following the murder of

Salinger’s colleague, the pair begin a globetrotting (hence the movie’s title) jaunt trying to track down executives, work in conjunction with politicians, New York cops and enjoy a particularly breath-taking shoot out at the Guggenheim museum, all the while trying to bring down the bank.

This description of The International probably makes it sound far more exciting and popcorn munching than it actually is.  Don’t get me wrong, I think The International is an extremely well-acted, directed and edited movie, but if you are expecting Bourne levels of action then you’ll have to look elsewhere.

I use Bourne as a jumping off point, as from the look and feel of the movie it is the closest comparison to The International.  It occupies a place in the real world; this is no hyper real Hollywood spy drama.  This is a proper gritty drama, more akin to dialogue heavy 70s movies such as The French Connection.

What I particularly liked about The International was the way that it is shot, with use of various architectural landmarks from around the world as silent characters (of which there is plenty of information about in the bonus features).  Cinematography is beautiful here, and each of the cities that Owen and sometimes Watts visit has their own look and feel.

Continuing with the movies positives, while the movie is sometimes rather slow moving, its key action sequence at the Guggenheim museum is a fantastic orgy of guns and destruction.  It’s worth the wait, as the bank undertakes some rather excessive measures to silence its pesky critic.  Director David Tykwer isn’t afraid to splash around the claret either, with some particularly nasty deaths for the supporting cast.  It’s a shocking wake up call for a movie that is relatively sedate at times.

It’s not a whitewash of gushing praise though for The International though.  While I enjoyed the movie, the use of a main character who has burnt out from a previous job and is now hell bent on taking down the enemy at any cost is more than a little old hat.  Clive Owen is great in that kind of a role, and he is certainly very good here but I’m more than a little burnt out on burnouts.

While she is billed as a main character, Naomi Watts plays far more of a supporting role than an equal lead.  By her own admission in the making of documentary, she tends to play the damsel in distress role a little too often.  So it is good to see her playing such a strong character juggling her duties as a career woman and mother.
I also applaud the decision to not have any kind of romantic interest between the two leads whatsoever.  These two are working together towards a common goal, and an unwanted romantic subplot is mercifully jettisoned (but hinted at during the extended scene on this Blu-ray).

As I have already mentioned, I enjoyed The International a great deal.  The European crew have crafted an action thriller that moves along at a pace that is quick enough to just about satisfy the fans of more gritty movies such as Bourne and even the rebooted Bond, but may well leave them wanting more action and less intrigue.

If you are looking for an enjoyable couple of hours that will make you think rather than just switch your brain off, you could do far worse than The International.

Audio Visual
It’s business as usual on the encoding side from Sony here; 1080p MPEG4 has long been their codec of choice, and no doubt will continue to be so.  It’s a belter of a transfer as well.

The movie has a very intentional down tempo look about it.  Colours are muted, and many locations are suitably grimy and overcast.  The exception to the rule is the movies climax in Istanbul, which is a welcoming contrast to the rainy and overcast Berlin of its inception.

Contrast is slightly tweaked but isn’t too hot to make anything look unnatural, whether it be the stunning architecture or the actors faces.  The quality of the transfer certainly does justice to the beautiful photography of its various locations.  There is a little grain in evidence, but this is intentional on the part of the filmmakers.  As The International isn’t a special effects laden blockbuster I can’t really describe it as reference material, but there are elements that can be picked out as being particularly notable.
The shootout in the Guggenheim is without a doubt the movies trump card, and contains the most use of bright light and colour.  You will hear no complaints from me regarding the visual quality of The International, it is a very solid transfer that cannot really be faulted.

The visuals are equally matched by the superb Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that accompanies them.  As you would expect, the movies key action set piece at the Guggenheim is also a showcase for the sound design and is sure to have the neighbours asking you to politely turn it down.
This sequence really is something special, with bullets ricocheting across all speakers, bass booms and glass breaks with suitable ferocity.
That is not to say that the rest of the movie is a letdown, far from it.  Director David Tykwer is also responsible for the bustling, yet minimalistic score which is a pleasure to listen to.  Add on the subtle use of ambience and you have a truly superb Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that reminds me just how far we have come with these new releases when compared to the large number of catalogue titles I review.

Bonus Features
Plenty to go around here and almost all of it is in HD.

Commentary – Director David Tykwer and screenwriter Eric Warren Singer provide a very entertaining commentary that is surprisingly open and honest and reflects a more Euro-skew than the more traditional Hollywood back slapping.

I have never been a particularly big fan of commentary tracks either on DVD or Blu-ray, and these days I far prefer the Picture-in-Picture tracks.  But this is one of the better non-actor commentaries that is well worth a listen; you can spot a mile off whether a director is really invested in their movie, and Tykwer is definitely a very enthusiastic participant.

Picture-in-Picture Track – I’m really starting to enjoy watching these, as with Ghostbusters and Terminator 3, The International contains an informative PiP track.  There is some overlap with the other featurettes on the disc, so there is repetition but not so much that it becomes annoying.
As you would expect, there is plenty of chat from the producers, the director, actors and assorted others detailing all aspects of the production.  There is also plenty of behind the scenes footage to keep things interesting.  If you are interested in that sort of thing, of course.

Making Of – I am always appreciative of a “Making Of…” which isn’t just an extended EPK fluff piece.  This half hour HD documentary features all the usual suspects talking about the movie, its themes and locations.
It’s hardly genre defining, ground breaking stuff of course, but the feature focuses more on the locations and visual styling’s of the movie than just the “we went here, this person was great to work with” puff pieces we are used to.  As with the PiP track, there is some overspill of material here that also encroaches on the other features.

Extended Scene – There is a scene relatively early on in The International when Naomi Watts’ character is introduced in Berlin.  She bundles Salinger into a taxi and instructs the driver to take them to the Concorde Hotel.  My ears perked up at this, as I stayed in this gorgeous hotel when I was in Berlin a couple of years ago.
Sadly, we didn’t see anything of the hotel (wait for it)…until now!  This ten minute scene which was no doubt cut for time to stop meandering fills in a few gaps in the film from that moment.  It also introduces a hint of sexual tension between the two leads which is nowhere to be seen in the finished cut.  It adds some more dialogue between the pair at the hotel (the walls weren’t painted blue when I was there, that may be more down to the production designer who used specific colours for each location) and even gives Clive Owen a teenage daughter.

This extra material is good, but I think it was the right decision to remove it.  Salinger’s complete character change to chummy Dad in the sequence with his daughter is very much at odds with his demeanour for the rest of the movie.  Some might say it adds a much needed few moments of light.  Either way, it’s worth a watch.

Guggenheim Featurette – Rather oddly, this is the only feature here that is in SD even though many of the interview pieces were shot at the same time as those that are featured elsewhere.  Even so, this is a brief six minute feature chronicling how the filmmakers recreated the beautiful Guggenheim museum in a disused train yard in ten weeks.

Architecture Featurette – I enjoyed this one, another six minute featurette in which the director and primarily the production designer talk about their use of architecture around the world in the movie.  From the enormous Autostadt in Wolfsburg which doubles as the banks HQ to the Guggenheim and others, the crew discuss their use of classic and modern architecture.

Autostadt Featurette – As I have already mentioned, part of Volkswagen’s HQ in Wolfsburg, the Autostadt is used as the headquarters of the IBBC.  It is the first time the incredible location has been used in a movie, and this all too brief featurette focuses on the companies “theme park” for customers and tourists.
Being a German car and modern aesthetic fan, this is pure bliss for me.  It also helps to explain the prominence of Volkswagen and Audi vehicles throughout the movie.  I’m no fan of excessive product placement, but at least it is handled with care and isn’t forced down your throat.  You won’t see Clive Owen crouched down next to the radiator grille of an A6 and pause to admire it at least.

Summing Up
Every now and again I get to review a movie that really appeals to me, and The International is definitely ticks the boxes that make it a little bit special.  It is perhaps a little slow paced and meandering at times, but its emphasis on story, aesthetics, minimalism and architecture elevate it above other action thrillers.
The movie certainly isn’t perfect, the underuse of Naomi Watts and cookie cutter burnout character of Salinger are the most glaring issues I have with it.  But these aren’t enough to stop me from whole heartedly recommending The International.
SPHE have served up a fantastic looking and sounding Blu-ray presentation, that contains just the right amount of extras to justify spending the extra cash on this HD disc.  This is also my longest Blu-ray review to date, which pretty much says it all.  A must buy.

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