i hope this is better than manchurian candidate which was good but i would not watch it again

I thought was was good thriller/pot-boiler, not a great one, not a home run, but a serviceable couple of hours as the audience is presented with a UN interpreter who overhears a plot to assassinate a south African leader on his way to deliver a speech to the UN. The characters played by Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn are wary of one another, but it becomes a hot-and-cold relationship as the story unfolds.

I didn't think Kidman and Penn had much chemistry, though. But, I don't think Penn has much chemistry in general with his co-stars. At least he gave a restrained performance inline with his character's occupation, which served the film well enough. Kidman's character is pretty much an onion with layers, but depending on how invested you get into her past history is up the viewer. At some points, I found her backstory somewhat interesting, but not really scintillating or riveting.

Pollack's direction is pretty good, though it might have served to edit it down by 10 minutes or so for such plot driven film. My audience skewed towards adults in their 30's-50's, and were well-behaved, soaking in the film's rhythms as the plot pushed forward towards a deadline that could not be pushed back.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

I saw both of these today, and while like comparing apples and oranges, I enjoyed them both. Was a bit hesitant about "The Interpreter" going in, but found it quite suspenseful.

Saw THE INTERPRETER tonight and really enjoyed it. It's one of the most intense thrillers to come out in a long time. It really grabs you from the start and doesn't let go. The plotting is very intelligent and highly plausible with plot twists being motivated by character rather than coincidences. I also liked that the film has no deep messages and isn't preachy, it's just a fast paced, good old fashioned thriller that wants to entertain you.

Good movie. Excellent performances as one would predict, given the cast, and though it seemed to drag in certain spots, on the whole it was very thrilling, very tense. I've just gotta mention how incredibly hot Kidman looked in this film! Couldn't help but notice too, that there were quite a few Oz (HBO) alumni in the cast.

I saw this last night, and it had a LOT of potential, but just fell flat on its face. The "twist" was boring, but it could have actually been an interesting one... its almost like they just didn't have enough guts to go through with a cool twist. Reminded me a lot of American Psycho where everything is great until the last 15 minutes and then you're left scratching your head and wondering what happened.

Saw it. A good movie, but not great. Worlds better than Random Hearts, that for certain. Kidman and Penn both did a great job in their roles, even though I am getting somewhat tired of seeing Penn always playing the "man whose fallen on hard times" role over and over. I felt that the plot tried to go into too many directions at times, which is typical for just about any political thriller nowadays. Screenwriters need to realize that it's okay to be clever, but don't try to be so clever that your ending only makes sense because you felt your original twist wasn't good enough, so you had to add another, albeit illogical (read:unrealistic) outcome.
While it was pretty much a paint by the numbers thriller, Sydney Pollack did show that he still knows how to stay inside the lines and get the best out of his set of colors. Overall, the movie was solidly entertaining and definitely worth the price of admission (a matinee price anyway). I give it a B or ***/****

What twist?

********SPOILERS************



The fact that the assassination attempt was a ruse and a plot to strengthen/secure the leader's political stature devised by him and his own security councelor.

And yes, I don't think I've ever seen Nicole look this good. The way she dressed, the hair, the accent, everything was great about her.

yeah, Kidman looked great in this movie. I thought that her hairstyle was very good on her.

Overall the movie wasn't anything special. It had some intense moments but overall it was nothing memorable. A good movie to watch once but not one that I'm gonna get on DVD.

2 stars out of 4.

My feelings exactly. Decent flick, glad I saw it, but not purchase-worthy.

There were a couple of "yeah, right" moments for me:


But these points were needed to propel the story. Worse plotholes have occurred in other films.

And I agree with Ebert, who finds it refreshing that

I got a "diplomacy's good, violence is always bad, mmmkay?" vibe from it. Granted, it didn't hit you over the head like, say, the pro-gun control stance in The Runaway Jury.

Don't click unless you've seen the movie.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...horse75/13.jpg

The scene with Kidman embracing Penn before going to sleep was all I really needed to see; it was nothing to hint at a relationship, but very intimate and moving. If they had taken it a step further, that would have sunk the movie for me.

Well, I finally saw it last night. And if not for a lot of the posts in this thread I probably would have been severly disappointed. I was really looking forward to this movie before its release. But my expectations were tempered a bit after reading a bunch of the reviews.

The bottom line is it was entertaining and I never found myself bored with it even though it seemed pretty long. But the ending was just a huge letdown for me.

Oh, and I couldn't care less about politics but that didn't affect my experience. It's not a difficult to follow or overly saturated with politics movie.

I say 2.5/4

Saw this today. Didn't have any real desire, but was dragged there by my fiance..

I thought it was a pretty good movie, but way, way, WAY to long. I caught myself checking my watch several times. They could have cut an easy hour out, and been the exact same movie, story etc.

I say it's a rental, not quite a matinee movie.

Thought Sean Penn's performance was pretty bad, but thought Kidmans was pretty good..

I finally got around to catching this film and although I enjoyed it, was more disappointed with Darius Khondji's work. Anybody else feel the same?

Exactly. It also wouldn't fit with Penn's character

When the two leads hook up in a typical thriller, it really brings the movie down for me because it usually seems so unbelievable. Not every movie needs to include a love story.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. A very solid movie with some great cinematography, superb acting, and believable character arcs.



An 8 out of 10.

i thought it was alright.. nothing particulary special.. Acting was good. plot was ... meh
probably worth a see bit not for $10 a pop.. wait for the DVD.

Just saw this yesterday. Have a question: why did Nicole Kidman's character get on that bus in the first place? No one in my group could figure that out.