A dashing Interpol agent (Clive Owen) and a tough assistant DA in Manhattan (Naomi Watts) try to get the goods on a global bank, based in Luxembourg, that’s been laundering money for organized crime and, more recently, facilitating the sale of Chinese guided-missile systems to the Third World. Director Tom Tykwer is best known for the minimalist thriller Run Lola Run; this unwieldy product, with its swathes of expository dialogue, might have been titled ?Explain Clive Explain.? It’s almost worth seeing, though, for the incredible action set piece at the center: Owen, protecting an informant from an advancing team of assassins, engages in a high-ordinance firefight along the upward spiral of the viewing gallery at the Guggenheim Museum. With James Rebhorn and Armin Mueller-Stahl. R, 118 min. –J.R. Jones
The International
R • 2009