The International

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I like Euro-thrillers.

Ronin, The entire Bourne cycle, All Things Bond, the first Transporter movie (and only the first one)...if it has car-chases through narrow, cobblestone streets, snipers on 300 year-old rooftops, and shoot-outs in art galleries and cathedrals, I'm pretty happy.

This film scored a solid 7 on the 10-point Euro-Thriller scale. Transporter scored a 7 as well, Casino Royale, Ronin, and the first and third Bourne movies were 10's. Getting a feel for this?

So. Pretty good plot, well-spun. Clive is a bit of a hot-head and a bit ragged. Naomi is believable (almost too pretty...) but her intelligence makes it work. The two operate very credibly as partners and professionals and don't fall into any of that icky girl-stuff like kissing and stuff. Ick. Cooties. Good supporting cast with the former East German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl playing...a former East German Stassi officer. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are good, there is enough of a body-count to keep things interesting, enough moral crises to keep the non-car-chase crownd happy. The director is the same young German fellow who directed "Run, Lola, Run" so you should all pay close attention to the newspaper headlines that they show during the closing credits. Nihlism, anyone?

[Drunk Monk]

DM was falling asleep in this film. Too much talk about banks being evil. We so know that now. Dm complained to Mrs. DM, who like PPFY, is a huge fan of intelligent Euro-thrillers - that, working at ACWLPB and seeing Dm nekkid are just about all those two share. "I thought there was going to be more action" Dm complained. Then there was that awesome shoot out in the Guggenheim. Good stuff, excellently choreographed, and totally built tension on the architecture. After that, there was more evil banks and Dm went back to sleep.

Evil banks. Sheesh. Like shooting duck in a barrel. DM prefers bald villains with scars, fluffy cats and cool secret hideaways that explode in the finale.