The Interpreter
 

I searched and didn't find any thread on this so here's one!

I've REALLY been looking forward to this movie since I saw the trailer in the theater last fall I think.

And it's early but so far all six of the reviews on rotten tomatoes have been glowing.

It looked like a good movie from the trailer but for some reason I have absolutley no intrest in seeing this movie.

I plan on seeing The Interpreter this weekend. Ebert and Roeper gave it 2 thumbs up. They said Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman give one of their finest performances. Can't wait to see it.

I just caught a "making of" the Interpreter on yesterday (can't remember the channel though) and it looks verry interesting. Just from that, I'm going to check it out. Political intrigue and murder are generally, very good cinematic bedfellows.

I'm gonna skip this. Not because of Penn and Kidman but I don't care much for political movies.

Probably on HBO. They have been showing a featurette for this movie between presentations.

Looks pretty good. Will definately check it out soon.

I think I'll check this one out as well.

:) Show me a movie they didn't give 2 thumbs up to! :)

I definitely plan on checking this one out. This looks like a great role for Penn and Pollack has a pretty solid track record with thrillers (Random Hearts being the exception).

DOWN AND DERBY

Penn and Kidman? Two of my favorites in the entire business, there's no way I'm missing this one.

It looks good. I will be waiting for the the DVD though.

I know I definitely want this movie, so I will be waiting on DVD...

I recently began to categorize movies under these groups:
1. Movies I must immediately see and will see again
2. Movies I definitely want to see now, but won't see again
3. Movies that can wait (I will see once)

Anything under #s 2 and 3 will just be a DVD purchase, as it comes out to the same price as going to the theatre. The movies in #1 are far and few between. (The last one, sadly, was The Ring Two... the next one, I don't know).

I saw it last weekend here in the UK, and IMO it was a massive let down. The supposed 'twist' was coming a mile off, and I defy even the simplest of movie watchers not to get it.

No tension or suspense, and a complete contradiction in terms of the main protagonist in the final act. Unsurprisingly, however, Penn is excellent.

I really wanted to like this movie, but while it wasn't horrible, it was certainly a let down to say the least.

What twist? There's NO twist to the film. There's a character arc with the Kidman character, but no twist.

And the "contradiction" you mention about Kidman is well planned and thought out. It doesn't come out of the blue, and it fits the character.

Saw it last night and although I didn't expect much, I didn't really enjoy it either. There were some tense moments, but it's just a typical cop/protector meets victim/insider drama. Penn and Nicole give great performances, but the story is so twisted up in politics, if you don't follow carefully, you don't give a shit.
It really bugged me that this movie was just recycled clichés from other movies. The dialog... or the way it's presented is the same crap you would expect from this type of story... and you have a feeling that later on it's going to repeat itself in order to give some sentiment to the already flat relationship of the primary characters.

I give it a 2 out of 5

Saw it last week in The Netherlands (what's up with that: a movie released in Europe BEFORE it's released in the US?) and I also was disappointed. Acting wasn't on the level it could be (with these actors) and the story soooo slow and predictable. Skip it I would say.

The WOM I am seeing on this one in other palces is pretty consistent with these last few comments. It looks like Pollack might have swung big and hit this one into foul territory.

JoBlo - 8/10

REVIEW

"Phew…finally! A solid, top-to-bottom movie coming out of Hollywood that isn’t a remake, a rehash, a TV show, a sequel or a rapper’s first steps into the movie biz."

Filmjerk - A

REVIEW

"In recent years, Pollack’s output has repeatedly flatlined ('Random Hearts'), but that all changes with 'The Interpreter,' a smartly mounted thriller that seizes the moment it hits the screen, and takes the audience for quite a sharp, taut ride."

Some blurbs from MetaCritic:

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
As beautifully designed, swift and sleek as a classic sports car, throbbing with emotion and intelligence, it's a neat suspense film that's also dramatically and sociologically potent, with two supremely talented stars, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, delivering beyond the emotional call of duty.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The Interpreter bristles with the smart, steadily engrossing tension that marked such 1970s goodies as "All the President's Men," "The Parallax View" and Pollack's own "Three Days of the Condor."

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Yes, this could be a better film, but the good qualities it does have are rare enough to hold our interest on screen and off.

Time Richard Corliss
There's enough narrative for three fine films. But not enough for The Interpreter. The thriller pieces feel assembled rather than organic.

Roger Ebert's full 3-star review here

I'll see it this weekend, our local papers gave a lot like love better reviews...go figure.

saw this tonight and it was so bad that i was tempted to ask for my money back. there were certain lines towards the end where people in the audience were laughing. definitely not a good sign at my theater.

My problem with it too. Though the problem may have been my damn friends decided to see it so damned late so I was tired, and we had to sit in the back row. If not for those two circumstances, I may have been able to follow the plot and enjoy it. But I didn't.

So you penalize the film for requiring careful attention?

...and people wonder how THE PACIFIER did 100 mil...

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..