Director, Sidney Pollack has turned his hand nicely to thrillers many times before, from Flight of the Condor to the Firm.  The former was a classic political piece, the latter popular hokum that worked well.  The Interpreter is sadly neither.

Nicole Kidman is Silvia Broome, an African interpreter working at the UN who overhears a conversation between two men about a planned assassination attempt against her fomer country’s genocidal dictator. Enter Federal Agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn), a troubled man who strongly doubts her story until events start to escalate.

The premise is reasonably good, but the pace at times is terribly slow, something that a good political thriller should never have. Neither Penn nor Kidman are at their best (try Dead Man Walking and Dead Calm, respectively for that), but with the subject matter it’s not that great a surprise. Yes, it has its moments and Pollack handles those well, but they are too few and far between to make a huge difference and the political message that the UN is a diplomatic wonder never quite rings true. No prizes for guessing why they were so willing to cooperate, then.  It wiles away a few hours pleasantly enough, but audiences deserve a bit better than this.

(3/5)

Release Date: 15 August 2005

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The Interpreter