The International

Starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, The International is your standard action thriller. Owen plays an Interpol agent trying to bring down a large international bank that is involved in arms dealing, among other seedy business. Owen and Watts, as a New York Assistant DA, go it alone, since the bank is so powerful and so little evidence exists for any government entity to go after it.

The plot info we get from the trailer is rather straightforward, but I see potential for the film to be too complicated, which is common in a lot of these international thrillers. The plot could get so twisted that it ties itself in a knot.

What also worries me is that the trailer didn’t show as much action as I’d have expected. There is a lot of intensity, but not much actual action. What it did show was pretty good, so I’m hoping they are just giving the audience a taste and that the film will have much more. Owen’s convictions drive him and the story forward, so the film should move at a decent pace, assuming the action keeps up.

All in all, the trailer promises action, suspense, and a complex, intense, and engrossing plot. Keep the story as clear-cut as the trailer and up the action, and we just may well have ourselves a decent film. Unfortunately, that may be asking too much.

Opens: February 13, 2009

Just the Trailer: **** (out of 5)

Film Potential: *** (out of 5)