“They control your money. They control your government. They control your life. And everybody pays.” No, it’s not a rushed film version of the Anglo Irish Bank affair, but still not a million miles from the headlines assaulting us every day. In The International, Interpol Agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) are determined to bring to justice one of the world’s most powerful banks. Uncovering myriad illegal activities, the pair follow the money from Berlin to Milan to New York to Istanbul in an effort to dethrone some serious fat cats with a lot more going on that simple tax evasion and pension irregularities. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk as their targets will stop at nothing, even murder, to continue financing terror and war. Salinger was once a Scotland Yard detective, until the global bank brought his career to a premature end. The bank, with its money and power, opts to increase profits through buying and selling weapons to dictatorships and Third World countries. Coinciding with a current global revulsion towards all banks and their often shadowy dealings, The International is a reasonable thriller that tosses in the odd jolt or red herring to keep the interest in third gear. Watts and Owen do make for good eye candy, the story is plucked from today’s headlines, and even though the eventual outcome is easy to read, it still makes for a diverting cinema experience.
