Saturday, 20 December 2008

The Interpreter

The Interpreter is a political thriller starring Nicole Kidman in the title role, and Sean Penn as a Secret Service agent investigating an assassination threat overheard by Nicole.

A leader of a country in southern Africa is scheduled to speak before the United Nations general assembly, and the threat against him is that he shall not leave the building alive.  (I don't think this is spoiler material, I think this was in the trailer)  Of course, things aren't as simple as they appear.  Nicole has some serious baggage as does Sean, and the drama and thrill factor get ratcheted up pretty well.  Will Sean put the clues together and figure out who's going to do what and how they're going to try and do it?  What side is Nicole on?  Is she good?  Bad?  Nude?  (as is such a common occurrence in her films)

Overall, I thought the story was pretty well written and acted.  It was a bit cliched with Sean as a hard luck agent, struggling to simultaneously work through his problems and solve the case, but it worked for the story.  There are spots where you see something, and the camera lingers long enough...almost too long...so that you know it'll be important later.  A really observant person could probably piece it together.  I enjoyed the movie and would've enjoyed it as a rental, but I'm not disappointed that I didn't see it in theaters.