DVD Reviews

DVD Review: The Interpreter

By Andy McKeague Aug 16, 2005, 17:05 GMT

Sydney Pollack returns to political thriller territory after almost 30 years, and sadly, not really for the better. ‘The Interpreter’ has a great cast and a decent idea, but it fumbles the ball with an overly contrived plot and unbelievable co-incidences. Pollack, a director who has a few great movies under his belt, deals another blow that signals his heyday was very much a long time ago. Please don’t get me wrong; the movie does have some good parts. A great performance from Penn as Tobin Keller for instance and a white knuckle set up on a New York bus, but they are not enough to save this from a lack lustre nights viewing. It’s a shame; it has almost all the right parts but just fails to put them together.

On the minus side Kidman does not really sell her role into credability. She plays Silvia Broome; porcelain skinned and an overly white South African interpreter who accidentally hears an assassination plot in a language that would be unfamiliar to most. The other shame here is that poor Catherine Keener, who is so good in every second of screen time she gets as Dot Woods, the hard-nosed partner for Keller, is hardly in the movie at all. Ok, down to the plot…. Well as already mentioned we have Broome, a mousy interpreter overhearing an assassination attempt in Ku, a language of Broome’s own birthplace, a fictional African State of Motobo. It seems the assassination plot is for someone who she does not hold dear to her heart, even more so since her brother is killed in the movie’s opening, and there is also a possibility of war crimes being pursued against this tyrant. Could this be a coup in Ku ? The movie then flings in everything on Broome’s lap, and we are faced with the dilemma of is she or is she not telling the truth. The duty of this task is given Keller. And if that was not enough there is some fluff about his wife getting killed in a tragic car accident that makes him open for some little romantic notions towards Broome, whom he is investigating. Out of his concern for the job or a stirring in his loins he goes beyond the point of duty and ends up protecting Broome from terrorist shenanigans. In years to come this movie will probably fade away from most folks memories, just now it is somewhat poignant as we have terrorist attacks in New York in the movie bearing similarities to the tragic London bombings that happened only weeks ago. This does have a few decent extras. The first is an audio commentary from Pollack, while it is interesting, it is too much in spurts and stops to keep it going throughout the movie’s length, for those of a patient nature he does talk about the movie business at length more than the movie itself. Pollack is back again in some of the featurettes, which are the more interesting parts of the extra quotient. Here we have more of his insights into the movie business including how to shoot a movie, his first in scope for some time, it is also of note that the actual UN opened their doors to let the movie be filmed. There are some deleted scenes and an alternative ending that don’t make you feel that the movie lost much by their departure, one in particular shows an annoying moment with Keener (not her fault I may add but in a movie with 5 script writers, too many cooks comes to mind) that thankfully and mercifully was removed – did we really need another unnecessary love interest ? Thankfully, not this time.

'The Interpreter' is available now via AmazonUK, and for pre-order via Amazon.

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PatrickOct 4th, 2005 - 22:27:00

Andy, I just finished watching it and I have to agree. It wasn't a bad movie, but not something that will be remembered next year. Penn is good, but to me his performance just reminded me of the same grief stricken character he played in Mystic River. Kidman doesn't see committed at all to the part, and just seems to follow along.
I did feel there was some good suspense in the movie, and it is interesting enough to keep you watching, but that is about it. There is nothing to make it feel like a GREAT movie on the level of the talented stars in the film and its director. Good call on the review.

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DVD Review: The Interpreter

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