The International

They control your money. They control your government. They control your life. And everybody pays.

At a time when the banks are in everyone's bad books, Hollywood rolls out a movie taking a look at a very bad bank. Loosely based on the now-defunct BCCI back in the latter half of the last century, this bank is involved in power plays on the grandest scale. Since they're into running countries, they get involved in arms dealing, murder, and other nasties. An Interpol agent teams up with a pretty assistant DA to investigate this bank. Previous investigators were either killed or disappeared, so the stakes are high, as is the action.

120 minutes.
No persons under 13 (Language, Violence).
Crime, Thriller.

Showtimes

This is my 'James Bond' pose.

Credits

Cast	Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich Thomsen, Brian F. O'Byrne, Michel Voletti, Patrick Baladi
Director	Tom Tykwer
Screenplay	Eric Singer
Music	Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer
Cinematography	Frank Griebe
Editing	Mathilde Bonnefoy
Sound formats	Dolby Digital, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, DTS
Soundtrack	Available
SA distributor	Ster-Kinekor
Made in	2009
Produced by	Relativity Media, Atlas Entertainment, Mosaic Media Group, Papillon Productions, Rose Line Productions, Siebte Babelsberg Film, Studio Babelsberg, X-Filme Creative Pool

Film and Publications Board (FPB) Report (SA)

Genre	Political, thriller
Language	Fairly infrequent and mild
Nudity	None
Sex	None
Violence	Infrequent and moderate within context
Prejudice	None
Blasphemy	None
Drug abuse	None
Comments	Complex and mature theme of political assassination, espionage, murder, corruption.
These details are supplied by the FPB. If you have a problem with any of the above, please take it up directly with the FPB. Read the Classification Guidelines.

ScreenIt Report (USA)

Sex / Nudity	Violence	Blood / Gore / Gross
Guns / Weapons	Profanity	Alcohol / Drugs
Smoking	Disrespectful / Bad Attitude	Imitative Behaviour
Frightening / Tense Scenes	Jump Scenes	Tense Family Scenes
Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Topics to talk about

Ratings

Scale (Max)	20
What the Critics say
Cape Argus / The Star Theresa Smith	10
Die Burger Laetitia Pople	15
Cape Times Kenneth Turan	5
iAfrica.com Ebrahim Moolla With a little more focus on the execution it just might have had you sniffing the air for a whiff of arsenic when you're having coffee with the bank manager.	10
24.com Finn Gregory	5
Box Office Richard Mowe In the current financial climate, Tom Twyer’s banking thriller should have struck all kinds of chords of recognition, but sadly it fails to hit its targets and, with a lackluster script, falls into the groove of a conventional action story—albeit with some contemporary resonances. A hard-working cast give it their all, especially Clive Owen’s Interpol agent.	10
Chicago Sunday Times Roger Ebert	15
eye Weekly Jason Anderson The result is more like a perplexing and pretentious variation on the Bourne movies; one that not even the wanton destruction of video-art installations by machine-gun-toting baddies can really enliven.	5
Rolling Stone Peter Travers The International, a decent thriller that should have been dazzling, is nothing if not topical. And sexy, too, thanks to the star presence of intrepid Clive Owen.	13
ScreenIt C. Fuchs While there's a decent array of other action in the film (that thankfully targets adult viewers rather than teenagers), the shootout among the spiraling ramps and open atrium is a testament to how exciting film can still be. It doesn't make The International a great offering, but it certainly will keep the pic, or at least that one scene, in the collective consciousness of moviegoers for some time to come.	12
Metacritic.com 34 critics	10
Rottentomatoes critics 186 critics	12
Rottentomatoes tomatometer Tomatometer The International boasts some electric action sequences and picturesque locales, but is undone by its preposterous plot.	12
What the People say
Internet 6981 Netizens Worth a theater ticket	14
Average .. 53%	11