The International

After watching The International, I must report a mixed review. The plot was interesting, the action gripping, Clive Owen lovely. It is exactly what one wants from a high-paced flick: entertaining, surprising, and a complete escape from reality.

But sexism slapped me in the face more than once--the most atrocious scene being when Clive believes that a beanie-wearing assassin has just injected him from behind with a toxic chemical. He runs after the presumed killer from behind, grabs the villain, and as soon as he sees her female face, has the gross realization that he is paranoid and this person did not just give him a final dose of doom.

Yes, because a woman could never be a highly-trained assassin, and the first indication of femaleness means he is certainly wrong and she is innocent.

The second example that really gets my goat is that during the pursuit of the unknown assassin (the only clue being that this person has some kind of orthopedic leg brace), the characters assume that the killer is a male, and constantly refer to the anonymous villain with a default male pronoun.

Argh.