"The Bank" is not only sleek and terrific to look at, it's an action film with a heart. It cares about things like the global economy, rages over the evil-doings of corrupt conglomerates and sheds tears over the collapse of Third World governments. No wonder the lead character, Interpol agent Louis Salinger (and it should be noted that his namesake novelist, J.D., was famed for sighing over the deplorable state of mankind), looks so tired all the time. This is a man who, throughout the film, never stops carrying the weight of the world on his brawny shoulders. His colleagues sometimes tell him to relax, but their words fall on deaf ears. He's out to nail a seriously bad multinational bank based in Luxembourg, which goes by the rather suspiciously anonymous name of IBBC (International Bank of Business and Credit). Who has time to relax?
Directed by Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run") there's a broad, turgid river of naivete running through "The Bank" (international title: "The International") that drenches every one of the characters with the exception of Armin Mueller-Stahl ("Eastern Promises") as Wilhelm Wexler, the financier/powermonger whose backlog of evil is so intricate and extensive he's forgotten most of the details.
Wexler alone remains crisply dry, free from the sweaty, justice-for-all hangups that plague our hero Louis (Clive Owen). Looking benevolent and terrifically bored, Wexler's trademark gesture is a slight shrug of the shoulders as if to say he really can't be bothered. Louis on the other hand, is always hot and bothered. He's even too preoccupied to get anything going with the gorgeous Manhattan attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts), who's also trying to crack down on IBBC. Together, they fly to enviable and exotic destinations such as Berlin, Milan and Istanbul in what appears to be first class (just think of what this does to their mileage plans), but they never so much as clink champagne glasses. Instead, they end up studying dossiers with the overhead lamp turned on to max. Anyone who can sit in first class next to Naomi Watts with his nose in a dossier deserves several medals.