The International

Cafe Society
1

I went to see the last showing of Wendy and Lucy (my 2nd viewing, I love that movie) last night and thought as long as I was there I’d stick around for the midnight show of The International. It was pretty good! Clive Owens plays an Interpol agent who’s helping ‘a barely in the trailer but has a huge role’ NY District Attorney (Naomi Watts) investigating organized crime money laundering. What starts as a fairly straightforward investigation suddenly turns very complex when they realize that there’s much more going on than money laundering at the bank in question.

It’s very complicated so you really have to pay attention, but I was swept up in it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I followed everything well, but there’s one thing I think I missed. I’ll put it in spoilers.

Why did “The Consultant” spare Louis at the Guggenheim? He couldn’t possibly have been a double agent, he’d killed too many people. He knew he was going to die anyway, so why not kill the man who caused his death? I can’t see that he suddenly had a change of heart, so what happened that I missed?

For those who get up and bolt the very split second the credits start, you’re going to miss the aftermath, which is told in newspaper headlines. Everyone around me did that and I thought, you dips, you’ve paid full price for a midnight show, sat through the whole thing, and now you’re missing what ultimately happened.

2

I just saw it. I agree with your assessment - just nicely complicated but not so complex you have no idea what’s going on.

As regards your question;

[spoiler]the consultant didn’t really spare Louis. The two of them needed to work together to get out of the mess they were in, maybe he planned to try to kill him later. In any event, once the guys from the bank were trying to kill him, the situation had changed and maybe his best option was to turn and work with the feds. He’d been caught and knew he couldn’t go back to his old employers.

In either case (kill Louis later or work with the feds) there was nothing to be gained by killing Louis at that moment[/spoiler]

I did notice one glaring error though:

[spoiler]The consultant arranged to meet at the top of the Gugenheim and then later when they were trapped up there he said “The only way out is down the ramp”.

A professional hitman would NEVER arrange to meet somewhere with no other exit. It’s one of the most basic rules - before you meet somewhere you always check the place out first and see where the alternative exits are in case there’s a drama. I’ve read enough SAS type novels to know this.[/spoiler]

Overall though, a fun watch. Reminded me of a 70s thriller - quite wordy (in a good way) but still fast moving.