In essence, the story has Clive Owen as an Interpol agent (who apparently have no power or jurisdiction anywhere, which was news to me any anyone who's read the Interpol warning at the start of a video or DVD movie) on the trail of some kind of dodgy bank. At things develop, it is hinted that this bank knows everything, controls everything. The film trailer did hint at this "they are everywhere" theme, but the movie itself did little to show that the bank was everywhere, just that they were always wherever Clive Owen was. In the end, the bank goes belly up, and Clive takes the law into his own hand to finish off the bad guys.
The dialogue was what most astounded me. Clive is given the most astounding prosaic dialogue. My favourites (and they must have been astounding since I remember them):
"Sometimes you find your destiny on the road you take to avoid it." This astounding fortune cookie philosophy convinces a hardened criminal to suddenly spill his story about the Bank and set Clive on the trail of the real baddies.
"In life there are bridges you cross and bridges you burn. I'm the one you burn." This one gives him a clean break from the female lead played by Naomi Watts. It is unclear why she was even in the story, as she did not bring in any other information, and any possible romantic link between them was squashed early on by showing her loving husband and son.
There big shoot out scene in the film - in the Guggenheim gallery in New York - was very well done, but unfortunately cannot save this movie from all its other flaws.
1 comment:
I saw this one just a couple of weeks ago, too, and was a little disappointed. I think I'd agree with your assessment ~ especially the part about not really knowing why Naomi Watts was even in the movie to begin with.
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