A 2009 conspiracy thriller starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. Interpol Agent Louis Salinger (Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Watts) are determined to bring to justice one of the world's most powerful banks. Uncovering illegal activities including money laundering, arms trading, and the destabilization of governments, Salinger and Whitman's investigation takes them from Berlin to Milan to New York and to Istanbul. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk as the bank will stop at nothing - even murder - to continue financing terror and war.
Tropes present in this work include:
- Always Murder: Salinger is convinced of this when his partner has a heart attack after meeting a contect. He's right, of course.
- Arms Dealer
- Blast Out: The Guggenheim scene feels like a scene out of a First-Person Shooter.
- Bulletproof Vest: The Consultant.
- Career Killer: An assassin, and a...
- Cold Sniper
- Contract On The Hitman
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: All of the IBBC.
- Daddy's Little Villain: The Big Bad keeps his young son around for a teleconference as they play a game of Go.
- Dead Partner: twice.
- Deadly Euphemism: "The Consultant"
- Diabolus ex Machina: If the Big Bad's mooks hadn't been tipped off by the birds, the film would have ended way differently.
- Establishing Shot: many, many of them - the name of the film is entirely justified. Most of them are very pretty.
- Fair Cop: Whitman
- Forensic Drama: briefly, when looking into the assassination of Calvini.
- Government Conspiracy
- Handicapped Badass: The Consultant. Becomes a plot point when his leg brace allows the police to track him down.
- The Handler: Wexler, for the Consultant
- He Knows Too Much: Wexler
- Hey, It's That Guy!: This film could entirely plausibly be Smith's origin story, explaining his hatred of arms dealers.
- When did Rosario start assassinating people?
- Hidden Wire
- How Dare You Die on Me!: oddly, delivered to the Enemy Mine in the gallery shootout - more a case of "I can only get out of here if you help me", but there's also the fact that Salinger wants him to testify.
- Instant Death Bullet: gorily averted on several occasions. One character bleeds out messily from a neck wound, one takes a long time to die from a stomach wound, and all the professional killers in the film employ Make Sure He's Dead headshots.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Mostly averted, despite all the local police forces involved. Most of the friction is with the higher-ups.
- Karma Houdini
- Monumental Battle: in the Guggenheim, New York.
- Nebulous Criminal Conspiracy: The bank is simply the middle man at the centre of one of these.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: Liberia
- Perfect Poison: One that gives someone a heart attack within seconds of introduction and leaves no trace. Handy!
- Redemption Equals Death: Happens twice.
- Scenery Porn:
- Shaggy Dog Story
- Smart People Play Chess: The Big Bad is shown teaching his son Go.
- Spy Speak: Subverted when the hitman and his handler meet at an art gallery and have a stilted conversation about the painting they're looking at - turns out they already know each other, and they were just making conversation.
- Stairwell Chase
- Strange Bedfellows: Salinger and the Consultant escaping the Guggenheim after the latter becomes aware of the Contract On The Hitman.
- Vigilante Man: tipping off The Mafia that the IBBC shot their old patriarch, and then attempting to do the same with the Syrians.
- Villainous Demotivator: Wexley only helps Salinger because he knows he has't got long to live.
- War for Fun and Profit
Umberto Calvini: The IBBC is a bank. Their objective isn't to control the conflict, it's to control the debt that the conflict produces. You see, the real value of a conflict, the true value, is in the debt that it creates. You control the debt, you control everything. You find this upsetting, yes? But this is the very essence of the banking industry, to make us all, whether we be nations or individuals, slaves to debt.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The IBBC engages in this quite a bit.
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