After the critical and commercial success of the Bourne series, thriller-makers really have to raise their game…and this doesn’t do the business, save for a couple of brilliant shoot-out setpieces.
Comment
02/27/09
The International (2009)
58
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:191
Fresh:111
Rotten:80
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: The International boasts some electric action sequences and picturesque locales, but is undone by its preposterous plot.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Feb 19, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $25,450,527
Synopsis: Released in a post-globalization economy teetering on the brink of a depression, THE INTERNATIONAL admirably stays in step with its time. Screenwriter Eric Singer hangs this man-against-the-machine... [More]
Starring: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Brian F. O'Byrne
Director: Tom Tykwer
Reviews for The International
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Leaving behind the aromatic fantasy of Perfume, Tom Tykwer weighs in with a tense and exhilarating entry into the spy genre. This is an espionage thriller well worth investing in.
02/27/09
It deserves to be a major hit.
02/27/09
For all its serious intent, Tykwer’s ‘relevant’ thriller proves to be perilously naff.
02/27/09
Top CriticThis satisfyingly cynical dig at the world of high finance should please anyone with a taste for paranoid political thrillers.
02/27/09
Top CriticIf the rest of the picture had been as thrilling and action packed and the characters a touch more original, the opaque but charismatic Owen and the achingly transparent Watts could be embarking on a series of movies to rival the Bourne franchise.
02/27/09
As an action thriller The International might well lack the full-on fight scenes of a Bourne movie, but it is a smart and sophisticated globetrotting thriller with just the right villain for these troubled times.
02/27/09
Paranoia abounds in this slick but stodgy drama recalling the conspiracy thrillers so beloved of 1970s cinemagoers.
02/27/09
Message to Clive Owen: Daniel Craig filled the James Bond vacancy a while back and is doing a great job, so you really should stop auditioning for the role.
02/27/09
The action is often crass, the location-hopping mere crisis tourism. But the acting and dialogue deliver.
02/27/09
It's reasonably efficient, passably entertaining, and strenuously playing catch-up with the Bourne movies: flat-footed Owen doesn't look as good as Matt Damon sprinting through city streets, and the editing doesn't match Paul Greengrass's whiplash pace.
02/27/09
Overlong and underwritten, this corporate-noir thriller is propelled by its gleaming good looks.
02/27/09
The title of the sleekly professional The International sounds off-puttingly more like a corporate hotel than a thriller and the first half proves just as blandly businesslike.
02/27/09
Though The International starts decently enough, its flailing action set-pieces and dialogue such as “sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it” drag it down to a very pedestrian level.
02/27/09
The International would love to be the new Michael Clayton but it’s nowhere near smart enough. It also fancies its chances as the new Taken but it just doesn’t have the guts.
02/27/09
The film seems to unfurl at a pace that by modern standards could be described as leisurely, and yet that works in its favour, even though it also allows us more time to contemplate some of the script's more implausible elements.
02/27/09
The whole indeed proves to be greater than the parts thanks to Tykwer's direction.
02/26/09
An action flick with smarts, but that's not to say the brain and the brawn always coexist easily.
02/26/09
Now that "banker" is a term of abuse, more offensive than any word it rhymes with, Tom Tykwer's film is extremely timely. It has the hard-edged efficiency of The Odessa File - and a sequel would be most welcome.
02/26/09
The International has its fair share of dodgy moments, but these are more than compensated for by an amusingly topical plot, some stunning photography and a thrilling shoot-out sequence.
02/26/09
Latest News for The International
March 22, 2009:
Click for trailer and preview 
More...
February 16, 2009:
Perhaps a perverse variation of The Peter Principle comes into play, here, since Tom Twyker appears to be over his head helming a Hollywood blockbuster as opposed to a modest, art house indie.
More...
February 14, 2009:
The Naomi Watts International Interview: On sleepless nights, lactose lobotomies and almost kissing scenes
More...
February 12, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Friday the 13th Feels Too Familiar
This week at the movies, we've got creepy campers (Friday the 13th, starring Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker), conspicuous consumption (Confessions of a Shopaholic,... More...
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