The Age of Commercialism

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I have watched this film at least five times and haven´t still quite gotten enough. It has everything going for it - a cast of stars, cinematic excellence and a script that walks the thin line between plausible and not quite plausible to build a lot of suspense. Shooting locations (no pun intended) include among others the Hagia Sophia and of course the now-legendary seven minute Uzi war in the Guggenheim Museum - surely this is no longer a spoiler! There are many scenes that could be from a Hitchcock film, for example the totally random appearance of a suspect and the resulting trailing to the Museum, suspense building inside the viewer´s head. Wide-eyed and unshaven, Clive Owen as the bewildered and pissed off main character seems straight out of North By Northwest. What´s more, the ghost of Orson Welles is even stronger than that of Hitch. After all Orson´s favorite theme of power corrupting mercilessly it´s users is the essence of Eric Warren Singer´s extremely well thought out script. There is a lot of dialogue and it´s all relevant and intelligent. Naomi Watts has a fairly limited female lead role, but she does it well. The film does not give any verbal hints about the relationship between the lead characters, yet it is obvious from the acting that there is or at least has been one. The lack of romantic nonsense earns an extra star for the International. Believe me, this is not that kind of film. Armin Mueller-Stahl is once again the old guy who actually knows what´s going on, a role he has done many times and he is again absolutely superb in it.

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

Interpol Agent Louis Salinger is investigating the International Bank of Business and Credit; outwardly it appears that the IBBC is just another world bank but Salinger is convinced that it is involved in supplying weapons to terrorists and rogue states. It isn't a safe investigation either; anybody who gets close to exposing what is going on quickly turns up dead. He is joined by Eleanor Whitman, an assistant district attorney from New York as the case moves from Berlin to Milan then, after a politician is murdered, back to New York where Salinger must survive a gun fight in the Guggenheim Museum. He learns that the bank's latest operation is to sell upgraded Chinese missiles to Iran… if he can prevent the deal he might just bring about the collapse of the bank but he only has a limited amount of time and must be willing to break the rules.This was a pretty solid thriller with plenty of action and some great locations… including going to the rooftops of Istanbul long before the James Bond film 'Skyfall' went there. The action was varied and exciting; the most notable moment being the shootout in the Guggenheim; a tense and memorable scene in a surprising location. Clive Owen did a fine job as Salinger and Naomi Watts was good as Whitman; although I was surprised that her character wasn't more involved in the story. Director Tom Tykwer does a good job keeping the action and plot moving… keeping this viewer gripped from start to finish. If there was a weakness it was the villains; for the most part they were just greedy men in suits without the expected menace one has come to expect in films like this… If you want a solid action thriller you could do a lot worse than this; I'd certainly recommend it.

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.