It is a dramatic story about an Interpol employee and an American lawyer fighting a battle against reality to find criminals. Tasks begin as they investigate corruption within IBBC to reveal the role of a high-level financial institution. It appears that this institution is an international arms trade link.
Eventually, you just let the tangled double-crossing take care of itself and enjoy the way the film defiantly bucks the contemporary thriller trend for shaky-cam coverage and lightning cuts.
A thankfully, skillfully mature effort by Tykwer to produce a proper thriller for adults, one even lent a little extra resonance by our currently cash-strapped times.
Take away the Guggenheim shootout and we've at least got Clive Owen at half throttle. Take away Owen and there's nothing left but the tired old mystic cabal of sadistic sorcerers.