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The Interpreter [HD DVD] [2005] [US Import]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Director Sydney Pollack delivers megawatt star power, high gloss, and political passion to The Interpreter, his first thriller since The Firm. With Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn delivering smooth, understated performances, the film more closely recalls Pollack's 1975 Robert Redford/Faye Dunaway paranoid thriller Three Days of the Condor, trading conspiratorial politicians for potential assassination in the United Nations General Assembly (this being the first film ever granted permission to use actual U.N. locations). Kidman plays a U.N. interpreter who inadvertently overhears hints of a plot to kill the reviled, tyrannical leader of her (fictional) African homeland; Penn is the Secret Service agent assigned to protect her, or to determine her role (if any) in the assassination scenario. By distancing itself from real-life politics, The Interpreter softens its potential impact as a thriller about contemporary globalization and threats to international peace, but the Penn/Kidman personal drama (between two people who gain a deep appreciation for shared anguish, without being artificially forced into romance) adds a richly human dimension to Pollack's expert handling of the thriller elements of a complex yet easily-followed plot. Indie-film stalwart Catherine Keener shines in her supporting role as Penn's sarcastic by sympathetic Secret Service partner. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com


actually great!!
Review date: 2008-08-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

I'll be honest, I wasn't really expecting too much from this film. I love Nicole Kidman but she has been in some pretty dodgy roles. I was happily surprised and gripped by this great political thriller. Especially tying in with events that have been happening in America it made it even better. Sean Penn is also a great actor and the two of them work so well together!! This is well worth a watch, You'll love it!!

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Reviews


One of my favourites
Review date: 2008-06-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is a great action-packed thriller which keeps your brain-cells ticking and keeps you on the edge-of your seat; it is more intellectual compared with others in some ways. I recommend it. Great taste and flavour of the UN as well---giving an overall picture of what such a great institution is capable of achieving and why it exists today--words, compassion, diplomacy and justice will forever dominate over sheer brute force and violence.

I may be spoiling the film if you haven't seen it to some extent but it has some of the most beautiful and lyrically poetic lines ever----close to the end of the film:
'The gunfire around us makes it hard to hear.
But the human voice is different from other sounds.
It can be heard over noises that bury everything else.
Even when it's not shouting.
Even if it's just a whisper.
Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies....
When it's telling the truth...'

The above is an extract from a fictional book written by one of the film's main characters: Dr.Edmond Zuwani.
The above lines alone for me is what makes this film worthy of 5 stars.(whoever they may have been written by)
I encourage you to watch the film to understand its context and greater meaning....Not many thrillers can truly move you and prompt you to understand humaneness and humanity.

very disappointed
Review date: 2008-03-02 Rating: 2 out of 10

I expected an unusual and gripping film. Instead, I was bitterly disappointed especially with the barely acting part of the the so-called heroine who simply could not be heard and muttered in a most monotonous voice with no real acting ability. I ask . " How on earth did she succeed in landing that part? " After about half an hour, I indexed the film forward bit by bit, but there she still was. muttering incomprehensively with a really sulky expression permanently graven on her face. Really the film may have some quite passable action shots, but if one is not in the least interested in any of the characters - however good the action might become, one remains unmoved and bored by this film which I hired out as a DVD rental. Just another disappointment and I am partly to blame for not researching it beforehand sufficiently !


Something has been lost in translation
Review date: 2007-09-29 Rating: 4 out of 10

I'd read other reviews of this film claiming it was an intelligent and stylish thriller and I remember regretting missing it at the cinema as it seemed to promise a happy change from the usual gun & gore fests that dominate Hollywood's output. However, I have to say this film left me cold and my prevailing thought at the end was "Is that it?"

The story starts well with a prologue involving a sinister double-cross in Madeupnameland in Africa followed by Kidman's character inadvertantly stumbling across a plot to kill a controversial African leader. After that it just disintegrates. If you watch this film you can look forward to a whole series of tiresome Hollywood clichés including tough but fragile heroine, cynical but sensitive cop, ruthless but incompitent hitman, corrupt and murderous African leader and twists and turns more predictable than a spiral staircase. The most jarring thing is the name of the invented African country and I'm in doubt the writers thought "We need something that sounds African... hmm... Umbongo... Bongobongoland... Umpalumpaloolaa...".

On the plus side there are creditable performances from Penn and Kidman with the latter never looking better, but the remainder of the cast are little more than moving wallpaper. The New York backdrop is familiar and used to completely unspectacular effect and, without wishing to spoil part of the plot, I was left wondering if anybody in the Big Apple ever closes their curtains.

I hoped for stylish and intelligent. I got hackneyed and predictable. I won't be adding it to my shopping basket.

A professional, engrossing thriller
Review date: 2007-08-12 Rating: 8 out of 10

I thought this was a solid, adult suspense thriller, heavy on police procedure and light on romantic cliches. Silvia Broone (Nicole Kidman) is an interpreter at the U.N. Her speciality is African languages. One night, when she's in her booth alone overlooking the dark, empty General Assembly, she hears a brief whisper from a wall speaker that suggests a visiting African head of state, a man who has turned into an aged, bloody dictator, will be assassinated. (The opening of the movie establishes the kind of murderous reign he has instituted and is very effective.) Assigned to investigate is Tobin Keller (Sean Penn), a member of the Secret Service section that protects visiting dignitaries. Both have tragedies they're dealing with. Most of Broome's family was killed when the dictator repressed everyone who threatened his rule. Keller's wife has just died in a car accident.

Sydney Pollack takes us through the development of these two people's characters and lays out the bones of the plot. The race to find the assassins builds upon methodical police investigation, which is complicated by Broome's own ambivalence. There also are one or two red herrings. The settings add a lot of atmosphere and energy to the movie. Much was shot inside the U.N. building and a great deal was shot on New York City streets.

There are one or two times when coincidence seems to play a role, but the action happens fast enough that you don't notice this until the movie's over. The only unsatisfying part for me was the conclusion of the assassination plot. There were a few minutes of heavy melodrama involving Broome, Penn and the aged dictator which seemed to me was designed primarily to show that Kidman and Penn were "actors." That aside, I thought this was a fast-paced, professional film that was fun to watch. And there were some fine performances in the secondary roles, especially Catherine Keener as Keller's Secret Service partner and Jesper Christensen as the dictator's head of security.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Jesper Christensen
Tsai Chin
Earl Cameron
Yvan Attal
Vladimir Bibic

Creators:
Yvan Attal (Primary Contributor)
Vladimir Bibic (Primary Contributor)
Darius Khondji (Cinematographer)
James Newton Howard (Composer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
EAN: 0025193110527
Binding: HD DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: AC-3, Colour, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-10-24
Universal product code (UPC): 025193110527
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Running time: 129 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005-04-22
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Original Language)
Language: Portuguese (Original Language)

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