The Interpreter
cast: Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman
The good: two Oscar winners in one movie!
The bad: as political thrillers go, this one fails to impress
When Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman stars in the same film (don't really like Kidman though), you should expect something special. And acting wise, the film delivers with Sean Penn's usual troubled character role and Nicole Kidman's surprisingly cool accent. The rest of the film, however, ain't nothing very special.
United Nations interpreter Silvia Broome (Kidman) overhears a planned assassination attempt to a visiting African nation tyrant in a UN meet in the near future. She turns to Secret Service agent Tobin Keller (Penn) and the whole "is-she-telling-the-truth-or-just-making-it-up" twist starts. However, since the film is billed as a political thriller and not a psychological thriller, this twist is useless because its obvious that there will be an assassination attempt. Furthermore, its very easy to guess what's gonna happen next which is always a bummer. I was cursing the director for directorial mistakes early on when I felt I already knew most of what's gonna happen (and I was right).
But my movie-guessing skills aside, the story really isn't all that exciting, although it ain't half-bad either, its just plain generic with none of the tension and intrigue you'd expect from a political thriller. Also, that label is also a bit misleading because the political side is woefully underdeveloped in favor of Silvia's past and role in the upcoming events (wink, wink). Sadly, the mediocrity of the script and the directing only serves to supplant the otherwise noteworthy acting performances of the two leads. (3/5)
*Fun Fact: Sean Penn's story partner, Catherine Keener, also played Al Pacino's ex-wife and Evan Rachel Wood's mother in S1m0ne.
The good: two Oscar winners in one movie!
The bad: as political thrillers go, this one fails to impress
When Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman stars in the same film (don't really like Kidman though), you should expect something special. And acting wise, the film delivers with Sean Penn's usual troubled character role and Nicole Kidman's surprisingly cool accent. The rest of the film, however, ain't nothing very special.
United Nations interpreter Silvia Broome (Kidman) overhears a planned assassination attempt to a visiting African nation tyrant in a UN meet in the near future. She turns to Secret Service agent Tobin Keller (Penn) and the whole "is-she-telling-the-truth-or-just-making-it-up" twist starts. However, since the film is billed as a political thriller and not a psychological thriller, this twist is useless because its obvious that there will be an assassination attempt. Furthermore, its very easy to guess what's gonna happen next which is always a bummer. I was cursing the director for directorial mistakes early on when I felt I already knew most of what's gonna happen (and I was right).
But my movie-guessing skills aside, the story really isn't all that exciting, although it ain't half-bad either, its just plain generic with none of the tension and intrigue you'd expect from a political thriller. Also, that label is also a bit misleading because the political side is woefully underdeveloped in favor of Silvia's past and role in the upcoming events (wink, wink). Sadly, the mediocrity of the script and the directing only serves to supplant the otherwise noteworthy acting performances of the two leads. (3/5)
*Fun Fact: Sean Penn's story partner, Catherine Keener, also played Al Pacino's ex-wife and Evan Rachel Wood's mother in S1m0ne.
posted by NaCl at Monday, May 02, 2005
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