The International (Blu-ray) Naomi Watts Clive Owen Ulrich Thomsen Patrick Baladi

The International is actually two movies in one: A highbrow thriller about a sprawling bank that resorts to murder and arms sales to retain its power and a sleek visual essay on how architecture and interior design shapes your perceptions. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen still not quite a star despite Inside Man and Children of Men ) has been on the brink of conclusive evidence against the villainous international bankbut his sources always end up dead. With the aid of a Manhattan district attorney (Naomi Watts in a woefully underwritten part) he stumbles on the trail of the bank's favourite hit man who might provide the (literally) smoking gun Louis needs. The International starts out smooth and silky with visual style to burn and Owen's intense fervour. The plot gradually bogs down in incoherent moralising but along the way there are some taut sequences including a bloody shootout in the Guggenheim Museum where alliances shift unexpectedly. But what makes The International