Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

eric262003 In his last few outings before his death in 2008, Sydney Pollack has made an abundance of average films. In 2005, three years before his death, Pollack closes up his directing career with a gripping suspenseful eye-opener of movie titled "The Interpreter". The movie itself is saturated with scintillating performances, the characters are sublime and the never once does the viewer's intelligence never gets insulted. The story has a feeling like a modern-day Alfred Hitchcock feeling to it as the suspense will likely keep you intrigued. This is the swan song in Pollack's final directorial project that couldn't have come at a better time. The story kicks off as United Nations African interpreter Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) was gathering personal apparatuses when she overhears a plot to have her country's president assassinated in which involves a visit from an African dignitary. Fearing her life is in danger, Silvia calls up F.B.I. Secret Service Agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn), who has immediate suspicions about her, but softens up to her knowing there's more to the story than what she's telling him. Fearing her life is in peril, while not telling Keller all the details, Silvia is now in whirlpool of trouble as the dignitary is coming to her neck of the woods in a matter of days. Though aging and not in the best of health at the time, we wondered if Pollack still had in him. The man brought us "Out of Africa" has made come back to the thriller genre which stapled his career to exceptional fame with films like "Three Days of the Condor" and "The Firm". As the years gone by, Pollack's directed has fizzled with mindless drivel like "Random Hearts". But not here in "The Interpreter", he sails away nicely with an exciting thriller that will likely keep you on your toes. In the world of movies where the young is dominant, this 71-year old utilizes his dedication and his audiences respect and his clever pacing while refraining from spoon-feeding every detail that comes onto screen. This is a great way to show that for a thriller it's neither mindless drivel or a half-baked effort even if it won't garner any Oscars. Even though the thrills are the key component to this film, "The Interpreter" has a well developed characters that sort of grow onto you as the film progresses. Pollack has good timing when it comes down to boiling points as to when the plot thickens and the suspense level gets more under your skin. This results in the performers to actually get a better enhancement on the characters they're portraying making them all the more crowd pleasing rather than predictable and one-dimensional. This is truly one of Pollack's best directing projects in a long time where suspense, pathos, and perpetual unsettling the whole way through.The most important scenes that deserves the utmost attention comes from the scenes emanating from the bus. Without giving away spoilers, the ingredients to an outstanding thriller we have an interpreter who heard too much, distressed politicians, overwhelmed F.B.I. agents, and top that all off with explosives in a tight moving surface. These set pieces are what makes this movie all the more special. This scene alone is worth the price of admission. As Silvia, Kidman has proved she's one of the best performers in the industry today, even in non-Oscar caliber films. Her vast versatility speaks volumes with her movie-star hair even down to the African accent, we get lost in her role she plays as we question what allegiance she truly represents and we begin to trivialize whether her innocence is coincidental or if there's more than meets the eye. Kidman keeps the mysterious level in her character throughout and never lets it go and continually gives Penn's character more in doubt of what she really stands out for. Penn has a more difficult job at hand and his expressions speak louder than what it seems. This gives Penn more of a good excuse to get more inquisitive with Silvia and to find newer hooks to further enhance his character's drive. With the assistance of a wonderful script by Martin Stellman and Brian Ward, Penn and Kidman could still turn an average film into something provocative and through the direction of Pollack, this mediocre thriller has enough spark to keep the thriller aficionado enlightened but never insulted.With the remarkable cinematography under Darius Khondji, "The Interpreter" is pure eye candy along with all the other parts of the anatomy that will have you tingling with excitement. It's nice to see Pollack back in his thrilling force. Though in the last years in life he did production, this movie was truly his last moment to shine and couldn't have come at a better time. A big salute to a career for the director Sydney Pollack.

Kirpianuscus a good movie. against its script. as result of smart work of Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. and for a splendid idea who has not the right adaptation. at the first sigh, it has each ingredient to be a great film. politics, crime, love affair, shadows of guilty, ambiguous relationship, a place who could be used in many brilliant ways. and a great director. but, scene by scene, the impression remains the same - something missing. something important who is necessary to give coherence to a story who must be seductive in each detail. the good thing is the art of actors to complete the mistakes of text. but theirs fight is the perfect mirror for discover the spirit of improvisation behind the scenes.

sddavis63 The basic story has Nicole Kidman as an interpreter at the UN who accidentally overhears a conversation in which there's a threat to kill a tyrannical African dictator when he visits the UN in the near future. This presumably puts Silvia (the interpreter) at risk, as she's now targeted by those plotting to assassinate the guy. The problem is that, aside from a couple of scenes, I never really got sense of her being at risk. This really turned into a long, drawn-out disappointment - completely lacking in excitement, filled with ridiculous plot points and with a convoluted script that I guess is supposed to give you reason to doubt Silvia and to have some uncertainty as to what's going to happen. Unfortunately, there was really no surprise about the ending. It was the definition of an anti-climax, and the fact that (at the very end) Silvia was simply freed (albeit awaiting being deported) after pointing a gun to the head of the African dictator (no matter how ruthless he is?) Well, that's one of those ridiculous plot points. The story is lacking - it lacks both logic and punch. There was nothing here to draw me in and to make me care, although the handful of opening scenes, set in Africa and making clear the nature of the regime in question, tried hard to do that.Story aside (although it's a very big aside when the story's weak) Kidman and her co-star Sean Penn (as Secret Service agent Tobin Keller) tried hard. Their performances were fine. There's nothing much to criticize about them. I thought the backstory about Keller's personal life and recent tragedy was a little extraneous. I will say that I did appreciate that, while Silvia and Keller obviously develop an emotional bond as the movie progresses, there was no effort to include a romance between them. That would have been just too cliché.If anything, the various twists and turns in the story almost make it seem that someone was trying too hard to craft a political thriller - so hard that they forgot to include the thrills! (3/10)

Sudipto Dutta Cannot believe how underrated this movie is. There has got to be something wrong with the people who have rated it. It is extremely tough to add a touch of heart to thriller flicks and this movie had achieved it to the full. What's not to praise? Kidman's a treat, to look at, and when she more than holds her own against Sean Penn. Sean Penn is, as ever, imperious with his subdued, steely performance that turns so profound in the end. Add to that a brilliant script and you have got a humdinger of a movie. Layer upon layer of suspense unpeeling every now and then, yet so personal that at times it can move you to the core. The dialogues are crisp at the beginning, and as the story gathers speed everything else becomes redundant. I give it an 8 because I can't give it a 9, but I really wish there were an 8.5 button for this one.