15 minute analysis

The International 15 Minute Analysis.


This film is about an interpol agent who is determined to bring justice to one of the world's most powerful banks.

The film starts off with Interpol Agent Louis Salinger stood outside in the rain, while his partner Thomas Schumer is in a car with a man called Andre Clement who is talking about the International Bank of Business & Credit (IBBC) and how the IBBC is going to purchase missiles in a deal with China. Schumer exits the car and walks out whilst on the phone to someone telling him the business plans. He then walks out to the street giving a signal to Salinger and then suddenly grasps his arm in pain, vomits and collapses to the floor dead. Salinger goes to run across the road to help him but is knocked out by the side mirror of a passing vehicle.

Salinger is then looked at in hospital and is told to stay overnight for observation but he refuses and requests to see his partner, Schumer and is told he suffered a fatal heart attack, although Salinger doesn't believe this and closely expects the body to find something on the back of Schumer's neck and requests for a full autopsy to be performed. The first 15 minutes shows a lot of tension and fast action and therefore is a typical trait for action films. Everything happens very sudden and in the first scene it seems almost sudden that both Salinger and Schumer are collapsed on the floor. There are fast cuts which create tension and suspense. The character Louis Salinger (played by Clive Owen) looks confused throughout the first scene and this gives the audience a sense that something strange and unusual is going off. There are a few long shots, for example when Schumer is walking towards the road we see him in a long shot and this gives the effect that Salinger is expecting him as it is shot from Salinger's point of view. The sound at the beginning that we can hear is the sound of moving traffic, when Salinger is knocked down we can hear a sharp ringing sound, this represents Salinger's unconsciousness. There is a sense of the typical 'agent' in this film, this is shown by the cinematography as both partners Schumer and Salinger are wearing long coats with trousers and shirt underneath which is typical of agents and spies in action movies.