The International
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: February 6, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
14
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Clive Owen makes a semi-believable hero, not performing too many feats that are physically unlikely. As the plucky DA, Naomi Watts wisely plays up her character's legal smarts and plays down the inevitable possibility that the two of them will fall in love. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
I can promise you a fairly good thriller with mixed-bag elements: preposterous plot, smartly elegant direction, one of the worst recent performances by a major actress, and a dynamite stick of an action scene that can stand close to the greats (the car chase in "The French Connection," the single-take battle sequence in "Children of Men") and from which the movie never really recovers. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Won't go down as an action thriller for the record books, but it's a pretty good one for right now. First of all, the villain is a bank. How's that for timing? Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The compulsively watchable Owen makes for an ideal leading man of both action and angst. The film's eye-popping set piece, a shootout at the Guggenheim Museum, is an extravagantly choreographed valentine to philistines everywhere. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
This is a thriller where the cutting, even in most of the action sequences, is meticulous but leisurely. The elaborate set pieces are so beautifully worked out that you could take them apart, shot by shot, and fit the pieces back together like an intricate Chinese puzzle. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSura Wood
Punctuated with bursts of explosive energy, this is a contained, cerebral film. Read full review
70
NPRBob Mondello
Tykwer being something of an architecture freak, controlling Third World debt also requires a trip to the rooftops of Istanbul, to Zaha Hadid's BMW factory, and to Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin. All great fun in a story that's more kinetic than compelling. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There's something almost endearingly out of sync about the sleek but now dated Euro-thriller The International. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
For all its impressive set pieces and breathless momentum, it's neither passionate nor urgent. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
What it's mainly about is movie stars skittering from locale to locale while bullets whiz by and the plot thickens – or, more to the point, curdles. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
While its globe-trotting itinerary recalls the mad whirl of a "Bourne" picture, nothing about this film's style resembles the second or third "Bourne" outings (which I loved). Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Where "Run Lola Run" was like a perpetual-motion machine, The International seems to forever be stopping in its own tracks. Tykwer takes coffee breaks to explain the convoluted and dicey plot. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
An hour after seeing it, you may not remember what The International was about. But you'll certainly remember that shootout. That is something to behold. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Though not as action-packed as some thrillers, The International is noteworthy for its unusually scenic and architecturally dazzling locations. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A decent thriller that should have been dazzling, is nothing if not topical. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The International possesses the look and feel of a thriller, but not the heart or soul of one. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Overall, though, the movie lacks the dash, wit, authority and character to become a first-class thinking-man's thriller. Read full review
60
TimeRichard Corliss
If you take Tykwer's film even half-seriously, it will be like one of those horror movies that you leave, suspecting that the crazy, ingenious super-killer is waiting for you outside. A warning, then, to the susceptible: After seeing The International, don't dare go to an ATM. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Ultimately feel so empty and forgettable. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
There's a nifty shootout at the Guggenheim Museum and a lot of scenic travel, but little in it compels. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
I couldn't help feeling that The International was stuck in second gear, like it couldn't decide whether to be fun or meaningful and so settled for being neither. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
An action thriller with some decent action and a few thrills, but all embedded in a yarn so hopelessly tangled that even the loose threads have knots. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Despite being structured in an intriguing way -- bits of confusing action are shown first and explained later -- The International never finds its footing. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Graced with well-chosen location eye candy, Tom Tykwer's biggest production to date is proficient but lacks the added tension and characterization to put it anywhere near the top tier of contempo action suspensers. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineCammila Albertson
Despite all the points it gains for furrowed brows and kick-ass gunfights, the film loses quite a few for being dry as burnt toast. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
It's almost worth seeing, though, for the incredible action set piece at the center. Read full review
50
PremiereOlivia Putnal
There’s an over-abundance of dialog that can be downright boring, especially when it’s sandwiched between fast-paced car chases and all-out gun fights. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It's good enough that you forget how much better Brian De Palma could do it. The rest is a slow road to nowhere, less clunky than "The Interpreter" but bogged down by its own cynicism. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
The International almost seems like a Monty Python spoof on spy-game thrillers in which the phrase "secret agent" is constantly replaced by "banker," resulting in lines like, "...If I die, 100 other bankers take my place." Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
So undistinguished that the moments you remember best are those that you wish another, more original director had tackled. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid Denby
There’s a big hole in the middle of the movie: the director, Tom Tykwer, and the screenwriter, Eric Warren Singer, forgot to make their two crusaders human beings. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
Remarkably dull thriller. Read full review
30
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Both actors (Owens and Watts) seem mildly aggrieved (and not at all convincing) at having to play characters considerably less intelligent than themselves in a movie that plays even dumber. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Motion is in copious supply -- a frenzied shootout at Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum grows interminable -- but the workings of the abstract plot are unfathomable, the characters are unpleasant and a couple of assassinations leave us as cold as the corpses. Read full review
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