Tonight, I finally got around to watching the movie, The International, staring Clive Owen as an Interpol agent looking to bring down an all powerful European based bank.  I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  The plot was generally easy to follow and the ending was interesting.  I did not necessarily like the part that Clive Owen had in the ending as it felt shallow even if it fit the plot perfectly well.  What I did like was the twist that happened right after it and the ending montage of newspaper headlines.  Clever.

The scene in the Guggenheim was terrific and the blood special effects were superb save the blood color which I thought should have been a darker red.  Perhaps that is the color on the DVD and not the color in the Blu-Ray version which I have not seen.  There’s a second movie there somewhere with a bigger conspiracy and I’m sure it will get produced at some point.  The problem I have is that the ending can only be the same and you’ll understand that statement when you watch the film.

The first technical aspect of the film that jumps out at you is the well done sound track.  The movie opens with a scene in the rain and you feel like you’re right in the middle of the downpour.  Throughout the movie, city scenes make very effective use of the surround channels and the firefight in the middle of the movie is particularly convincing.  I found nothing wrong with the audio in this movie as it is as good as it gets on DVD.

The video was likewise very good.  In no case did I find the movie to go out of focus and the presentation was free from artifacts.  All in all, the technical merits of the movie alone make this a worthwhile picture to see in your home theater.  The fact that the movie is also good is a nice bonus.

Conclusion: Interesting plot.  Well acted. Superb DVD quality.  Ending is a bit of a letdown but not totally so meaning that this is a rental and not a purchase.  I enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn’t watch it twice.

DVD (1:56 running time)
Picture: 5 out of 5
Audio: 5 out of 5
Story: 4 out of 5