The Interpreter: Critic Reviews

An old pro's demonstration of how a politically relevant big-release flick can still effectively be done.

Conventionally described as a political thriller, but The Interpreter is as apolitical as it is unthrilling.

As a straight-ahead thriller, the movie is enjoyable and stirring much of the time.

You're left with admirable, even noble, wreckage, but wreckage it is.

Chokes on its well-meant outrage and leaves a moth-eaten plot and handful of nonsense characters on its way to a dopey finish.

[A] reasonably effective and old-school geopolitical thriller.

An intelligent, old-fashioned nail-biter.

An uncommonly well-crafted political thriller.

It's a thoughtful and thought-provoking thriller that doesn't pander to the audience for the sake of creating thrills.

When the film trusts the audience, The Interpreter is an intriguing outing.

Penn is terrific in his low-key doggedness.

Such, unfortunately, is the pitfall for thrillers that aim to be more literate and grownup than the usual fare: they sometimes forget to thrill.

What I admire most about the film is the way it enters the terms of this world -- of international politics, security procedures, shifting motives -- and observes the details of all-night stakeouts, shop talk, and interlocking motives and strategies.

The kind of polished, exciting treat the movies should give us far more regularly.

The movie's sense of menace diminishes, instead of mounts, with each new break-in, booby trap and corpse.

It is the sort of thoughtful, grown-up entertainment that the big studios hardly make anymore.

Pollack drives this movie as if it's a well-tuned automobile, taking turns smoothly, accelerating at the right moments then easing off the gas pedal without ever losing momentum.

Like certain prescriptions, The Interpreter can cause drowsiness and should not be viewed while operating heavy machinery.

I was steadily absorbed by The Interpreter, even though much of the plot didn't make a great deal of sense.

Muddled, dreary and preposterous.

As always, Pollack's polished professionalism reps a significant pleasure in itself, and the presence of the U.N. front-and-center is a spectacle to behold.

Fairly decent entertainment.

It's fitting that a movie about communication should be so chatty that it talks much of the drama right out of itself.

Rare is the movie where the performances can make up for an almost fatally flawed script. This is one of them.

Where the bricks of plot lack the mortar of credibility, there ain't much building going on.