Clive Owen and Naomi Watts play the cutely named investigators Salinger and Whitman, who try to bring down the International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC).
It’s fast-paced and very nicely shot, with a stylish take on locations in Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul. In the case of Istanbul, the exact same area – the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar – would later be used for a motorbike chase in Skyfall (2012). The most dramatic section is an extended shoot-out in the NYC Guggenheim Museum, painstakingly replicated just for this film.
The script avoids cliché and it’s refreshing that the lead pair do not end up becoming a couple. Both in terms of their personal lives and the corruption their work exposes, there are no easy solutions offered. But the very existence of the film emphasises the immense, insidious power of global finance and the way banks drive the behaviour of governments and determine the outcome of global conflicts.
Watts is always reliable, and impresses throughout. Owen, meanwhile, surprises with a blend of toughness and vulnerability that’s just right for this particular story.
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