Customer Reviews

The International [UMD for PSP]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Reviews have been quite mixed on the content and quality of this film, but without a doubt this Blu is an excellent piece for the those seeking competent clarity, BD production and special features. The film offers a mixed bag and is understandably panned for the later acts "bogging down" or a confusion as to what kind of film it is trying to be, but in the end - I was impressed by a thoughtful and well preserved product.

The picture is reference quality throughout. The landscapes, architecture, streets, wide overhead pans, rooftop panoramas, and nighttime depth all shined in clarity, aspect and colors. Customers were very impressed with certain scenes that captured the international buildings.

The sound is 5.1 TrueHD, which gets used extensively on the score and singular long shooting sequence, but little else to speak of there (I am a big DTS fan).

The special features are what make this package a five star, even if you rate this film as low as a three.

- An extended scene between our two leads; an eleven minute sequence that orginally ran much less (just prior to the scene where he dunks his head in the ice water).

- A thirty minute making-of that thoroughly covered all aspects of filming. Interestingly, it covered the production in sequence with how the film was released (beginning to end). The next two features should have been included but were separated into:

** a six minute architecture documentary about the locations, and a seven minute addendum about shooting at the Guggenheim (pun intended) that was better covered in the main documentary; it almost felt like a snippet that played on a network or ad plug.

- A five minute insight about filming being allowed for the first time at the Autostadt factory for VW. An impressive place.

- The picture in picture looks pristine but for the amount of dialogue it works better on the second go around. Once again, you have to have your player dialed perfectly for it to work completely. Same with having everything up to date for the Cinechat feature.

As far as the rest of the package goes, the commentary is very similar to what we see in the documentaries, and can be subtitled in Spanish and Portugese. The menu navigates well and contains my favorite of the chapter selection designs. That being where the entire time line is shown on one page complete with pics and time graph.

A worthwhile owner for fans of the film, and an adequate rental for those that are interested in the background and filming locales.

This movie has some incredible locations. And it has that lovely,
slow Scandinavian pacing to it. Very nice blu-ray product.

Clive adopts a fairly intense persona, and carries that through
the entire movies. So it's a long, slow burn in a scenic, slow-paced
film. It takes some patience, but it is very lovely to look at.

And the story is interesting enough. You've seen the same story
before, but it is on a grand scale, on a grand stage.

Beautiful visually, and a fun story. Well worth watching a few times.
International intrigue on the big screen, very nice.

This is, indeed, one of the best Blu-Ray transfers you'll see at this point-and-time. I can't imagine it getting any sharper. Scene after scene left me amazed at the clarity of the picture. It makes this film fun to watch because the story is so-so, decent but nothing spectacular.

What is spectacular is the scenery, some excellent close-ups and overhead shots, and one action scene in particular: a shootout at the Guggenheim Art Museum in New York City that will get your attention! It reminded me of the dramatic shootout scene in the streets of Los Angeles in the 1995 movie "Heat." This scene was just as intense. The sound of all the bullets - and there are hundreds in this scene - going from speaker-to-speaker was very cool, too.

The acting here was good. No complaints there, except Naomi Watts looked out of place in this story. It's a man's story and would have a been more credible with her role being filled by another tough guy like the Clive Owen played here. (Hey, some movies are man's movies and some are women's flicks.)

Whatever, if you want to see just how good a Blu-Ray transfer can look, check out this disc.

I always find it interesting watching a film that obviously a lot of work went into and then was in and out of theaters in about 2 weeks. The International is such a film. This film about an enormous bank involved in all sort of international conspiracies is beautifully filmed all over the world: New York, Milan, Paris, Turkey, etc. The architecture where each scene was filmed was carefully chosen. There is a exciting shootout that takes place in the Guggenheim museum in New York. As a New Yorker, I was quite interested in how the Guggenheim would let them film such an action packed sequence with so many hundreds of rounds of ammunition being fired. As I learned in one of the documentaries after the film, they built an exact replica of the inside of the Guggenheim inside an abandoned factory that used to build locomotives. The set was built in 6 weeks while the real Guggenheim took 4 years to build. All this work for a film that was neither a critical nor box office success.
Clive Owen is scruffy, unshaven, rumpled and generally filthy looking the entire film as the obsessed Interpol agent looking to bring this bank down. (Owen looks like such a mess that he looks like someone who might have been comfortable with Strother Martin and Warren Oates in a Peckinpah western) Naiomi Watts has little to do as the Manhattan Assistant D.A. who assists him. She looks good but is dressed down for most of the film since she is essentially playing a civil servant. She is happily married so there is no romance between her and Owen. The supporting cast is fine.
The extras are excellent including extended and deleted scenes, documentaries on the making of the film, etc. Picture and sound are fine.
In conclusion, if you want to see an exciting and well-made thriller that you probably do not remember being in theaters, you could do a lot worse than this one.

This movie surprised me. It was better than I expected! I don't even remember much about the press for The International (2009) when it came out early last year. But I love this movie poster design. Of course I'm biased as an architect to anything with Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum from New York City on it. The clean and simple graphics and layout of this poster grab me. It's nice to see a poster WITHOUT a close-up of an actor's face for a change.

This movie is basically an action/thriller/drama in the vein of the recent James Bond movies with Daniel Craig, The Bourne movies, and a mix of other films from the 2000s. It's got a lot of influences in it IMO. The pace of the film is pretty steady, with some action scenes revving it up, but mostly it just goes along in a rhythm. The shooting scenes in the Guggenheim are spectacular and remind me of the shoot out in downtown LA during the bank robbery in Michael Mann's epic film Heat (1995), one of my Top 5 films of all time btw. I would love to know how they got the Guggenheim to allow them to film there, and then shoot it all up! They must have needed some renovations and got a big check from the studio.

I think what I liked best about this film were the locations and the photography. The acting was decent, but a little flat emotionally. Nothing Oscar-worthy here. The architecture at the locations is incredible, and the attention to set design detail is like any great minimalistic piece of architecture. While there is nothing cutting edge or unusual about the photography, it's just so well done. Same with the editing. I give the film 3.5 out of 5 stars...a good solid film.

Hundreds of movies are billed as taken straight from today's headlines. Most are several months behind rather than current. THE INTERNATIONAL lives up to that idea and seems to have come along right as things are heating up.

Clive Owen stars as Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent whose partner is meeting a high level operative within the International Bank of Business & Credit (IBBC). The man has just informed them of the bank's intention to purchase nuclear missiles to sell to the Chinese. As he leaves the meet, Salinger's partner grasps his arm and apparently has a heart attack.

All, as they say, is not as it seems though. It turns out he was poisoned inconspicuously by an assassin working for IBBC in an attempt to stop this investigation. Instead it spurs Salinger on to dig deeper and go further. With the help of a New York assistant DA named Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts), the investigation moves forward as they attempt to follow up with this information. The players are identified and now, with the original whistle blower murdered as well, they just need someone on the inside to confirm their suspicions.

As Salinger finds discrepancies in the testimony of the banks head concerning the death of the mole, he follows up the lead only to discover that the police report taken has been changed. It seems that the bank is all powerful and can even purchase the police for the right price.

After Salinger meets with his boss and alerts him to their homes being bugged, they decide to discuss a new line of attack with Whitman. She contacts the widow of the mole who leads them to another man, Calvini. Calvini is a politician and businessman who informs them IBBC was trying to purchase a guidance system from him for their missiles being sold to the Chinese. Without the system, the missiles cannot reach their intended targets and are worthless. Moments after speaking with them, Calvini is assassinated himself.

The clues point to a cover up again as the trajectory of the bullets that hit a column near Calvini came from two different angles. At that spot, they find an unusual footprint, one made by a false foot. Although the detective aiding Salinger and Whitman wants the truth, his superior pulls them off the case and orders them to leave. At the airport Whitman notices the security cameras and realizes they might be able to find the assassin, watching for a man with a false leg going through security.

Using this information and noting the specially made shoe used by the assassin, they track him down to New York. After witnessing him meet his contact from IBBC, Salinger approaches him with the aid of 2 local NYPD detectives. A gun battle in the Guggenheim Museum ensues leaving the assassin mortally wounded and Salinger attempting to escape.

Before the killer dies, he passes along a small piece of information that helps Salinger. That, along with a bit of illegal questioning Salinger uses on the man who met the killer, leads him to one conclusion. The only way to bring down IBBC and their illegal activities is if he goes off radar and does things in as illegal a mode as they do.

Trust me when I say that this film is much deeper than what I have been able to describe here in a few words. The level of conspiracy used in this film is so deep it's as if the threads weave in and out of one another with ease leaving a pretty picture while at the same time a distorted view of the world. Banks have become conglomerates just as portrayed here, but to what extent they will go and who they will do business with is anyone's guess.

Many believe that the Federal Reserve works much like this, attempting to make policy or change the world order, inserting rulers in countries in an attempt at control. Others believe it goes much deeper. While these are little more than theories, they do make one question what is going on in the world and films like this will no doubt fuel that fire.

Owen shows once more that he is becoming an action star worth watching. His tired looks throughout the film show the world weary man who wants justice but finds little. And while his character is not supposed to handle a gun (Interpol is supposed to be an information gathering organization only), he certainly finds the time to use one when needed. Watts does a commendable job as well though her top billing seems odd for such a small part. While essential to the story, the role is short on screen time. She does hold up well though.

If you're a conspiracy buff, if you think that there are more people in control of the world than politicians and rulers, then you'll like this film. Stick with it though and don't break away too often. Its story is as complicated as you might expect. And it offers an ending that may take you by surprise.

I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5 because the aspect ratio on this blu-ray transfer is 2.40:1 instead of being 1.78:1 - and this means you get the black bars on top and bottom of your 16:9 plasma TV. I am not sure why producers do this. Movies like Avatar have been done in 1.78:1 and they beautifully fill up the hi-definition screen TVs out there.

The movie itself is great, there are no romantic 'feel good' moments, it's all about how the world system works TODAY. Even though this movie has been shown on cable TV, it's better to watch it commercial free because the story line demands some concentration and attention from the viewer.

If you're into understanding how world affairs work, this is a great movie. If you expect any hint of comedy or romance, look elsewhere.

Finally got my Amazon Blu-Ray copy just today after renting this film several times. Just love, really love the stunning architecture featured throughout. But discovered that the digital copy code that I was looking forward to using on my new iPad has expired! On 06/02/2010 to be exact. Feel rather ripped off. Amazon says it's am Apple-Sony issue, which I do understand. So now I guess I'll see if either of them will be kind and offer a new code... Anyone else have this issue before?
MikeIn702

As the title says the quality of the movie in blu-ray is excellent. The movie itself is also good so if you want to buy this movie choose it in blu-ray

I think The International was a great film mainly because Clive Owen and the actors surrounding him acted greatly throughout the film. I enjoyed the dialouge and the special effects. There was really only one down fall to this movie but the downfall is what really makes this film either good or bad for audiences and that is that there is only really a couple of high action scenes in the movie. The first is the one where Clive Owen has this insanely awesome gun battle in a museum and the second contains a lot of dialouge but is interesting and intense and that is the scene were Clive Owen manages to kill one of the main bad guys in the film (Which doesn't really happen until the very end). I liked this film because it was interesting and the few action scenes made it flow BUT what I really didn't like about this movie is that its very slow moving in action and it takes quite awhile to get to the good parts. I wouldn't say this is a full on action packed, shoot em up bang bang movie but if your looking for a movie that you want to focus in on with a few gun shots here and there I think you will enjoy it. Overall the movie was great but could of included at least a few more action scenes then it did but the few action scenes that it did include sure make up for it in some big ways.