THE INTERNATIONAL

"Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it"

Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Owen) has been investigating the connection between organised crime and one of the largest international banks in the world, IBBC, since his days working at Scotland Yard and he and New York District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Watts) finally think they have an insider who can lead to a prosecution. When that witness is assassinated along with their connection to him, Salinger has to find another way in before the investigation is shut down but this could be more dangerous than he ever imagined.

With the collapse of the world banking system, the release of a movie that deals with the corrupt workings of a fictional bank could have been better timed but does 'The International' have enough to write the cheques?

The financial crisis that has gripped the world will definitely breed many a story from Hollywood but the first to cast a bank as a villain during this time bringing us a plot involving organised crime, corruption and murder is 'The International' and for the most part it succeeds.

Written by Eric Singer and directed by 'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer' helmer Tom Tykwer, 'The International' takes aspects of real life, the famed BCCI case, and the fictional to combine them into an international financial thriller. Here we have a committed Interpol agent called Louis Salinger who as been investigating the connection between organised crime and one of the world's largest bands, IBBC. Having finally made a break through, Salinger and New York District Attorney Eleanor Whitman have an insider who is planning to blow the whistle but when that informant is lost the very powerful people involved turn their attention to Salinger and Whitman.

Shot in New York, Berlin, Milan and Istanbul, the film tries to be a grittier, more realistic version of a Bond or Bourne movie but while the action and intrigue are up to scratch, there is something lacking in the conclusion. What 'The International' does well is to create a story that is contempory but then offer no answers to the situation. While you could say that there is nothing that the authorities can do and that law enforcement it fighting a losing battle, this is a slightly bleak approach to a subject matter that is very relevant at the moment.

Some story shortcomings aside, 'The International' is made all the more watchable because of the performances and one key action sequence. Clive Owen continues to show that he could have been James Bond with ease and Naomi Watts shows that she is an actress of supreme talent but could have been given a little more to do with her role. There is also good support from Armin Mueller-Stahl and Ulrich Thomsen. The action sequence set in the Guggenheim Museum in New York is just a stunning piece of action cinema and could be one of the great sequences in the genre.

'The International' is an intriguing, contempory story wrapped up in an action adventure. While it doesn't offer any answers or solutions to the current financial problems and the good news is that Clive Owen doesn't solve them with guns and explosives like he might have done in the 80s, this is still a good thriller that just about cashes its cheque.