Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		2.5

The Interpreter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf November 24, 2018

In 2005, director Sydney Pollack’s career was in trouble. After scoring a massive success with 1993’s “The Firm,” Pollack stumbled with 1995’s “Sabrina” and 1999’s “Random Hearts,” leaving the celebrated helmer in a difficult position, requiring a return to his past triumphs to help goose box office returns. “The Interpreter” is Pollack’s effort to revive screen energy that once guided his work on titles such as “Three Days of the Condor,” making a thriller that’s rooted in real-world ills, but still mindful of audience-pleasing suspense and his trademark attention to character. It’s also the penultimate film for Pollack and one of his better pictures, delivering a tight, tense look at procedural actions and political concerns, taking what would’ve been a B-movie in other hands and elevating it with class and thespian encouragement, giving the chase fine performances to sell the growing panic.

Silvia (Nicole Kidman) is an interpreter working at the United Nations. While returning to the building late one night to retrieve personal items, she overhears conspirators whispering about an assassination attempt on a controversial African warlord. Frightened when she thinks the killers have spotted her, Silvia is paired with Secret Service Agent Keller (Sean Penn), who isn’t sure he can trust the highly trained woman. Digging into her past, Keller discovers Silvia’s ties to African instability, with the interpreter searching for her missing brother. However, he’s open to her plight, getting close to the witness as U.N. and U.S. officials try to gather information about a possible disaster in New York City, with the warlord planning a visit to share his message with the world.

The screenplay (by Charles Randolph, Scott Frank, and Steve Zaillian) does a strong job keeping Silvia a question mark. She initially seems like a delicate flower, easily rattled by her grim situation, stumbling across a potential world-shifting incident while picking up a flute she left behind. However, there’s more to Silvia than initially imagined, and “The Interpreter” portions out revelations and shifts in behavior carefully, keeping viewers involved in the growing investigation as the U.N. employee is subjected to analysis and intimidation, with Keller assigned to keep a close eye on the witness.

“The Interpreter” maintains a sharp pace, with Pollack arranging periodic sequences of violence to reinforce the threat level facing the characters and even New York City, showcased in a scene where a bus is destroyed by a bomb in broad daylight, reinforcing the stakes with tasteful but vivid calamity. Pollack doesn’t need much in the way of artificial suspense, doing just well with cooler investigative scenes, with the cops getting to the bottom of U.N. troubles during a difficult week of preparation, forcing them to monitor Silvia, who’s trying to embark on her own sleuthing experience. If there’s a misstep here, it’s found in the relationship between Keller and Silvia, with the pair bonding over the loss of loved ones while teasing something romantic brewing between the opposites. Mercifully, there’s no sensuality in “The Interpreter,” but Pollack tries to wedge in some softness, which Penn doesn’t wear with any discernable comfort.

The Interpreter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Interpreter" is sourced from an older Universal master, but clarity is there periodically. Black levels are inconsistent, with some costuming and shadowy encounters lost to solidification. Colors fare adequately, and while clothing favors blacks and grays, locations retain compelling signage and artwork, while urban adventures make an impression, delivering a sense of street life with various cars, shops, and greenery. Detail is acceptable, best with close-ups, which offer decent skin surfaces, and interiors maintain expanse, delivering a passable view of the United Nations. Set decoration is accessible, but some softness remains throughout. Source is mostly in good condition, without pronounced damage. Strangeness is detected in the finale (during a critical confrontation), starting around 110 minutes (lasting to 118 minutes), which changes over to a more low-res, borderline interlaced look with ghosting and hard edits that turn into dissolves. It's very weird and doesn't seem to be an element of the original cinematography, breaking the visual consistency of the Blu-ray.

The Interpreter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix brings intensity where it counts, maintaining the feature's suspense with a clear understanding of elements, leading with dialogue exchanges that secure various accents, making performances expressive and easy to follow. Surrounds are engaged, delivering mild panning effects with traffic and U.N. activity, while atmospherics provide a feel for outdoor bustle and interior living. Scoring is detailed, supporting action with proper instrumentation and position, accentuating tense stand-offs when necessary. Low-end is softer, but explosions punch through with purpose.

The Interpreter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Sydney Pollack.

• Alternate Ending (2:59, SD) presents an idealized conclusion for "The Interpreter," and one that remains more in touch with the screenplay's commentary on the cruel casualties of war.

• Deleted Scenes (2:19, SD) offer a few more bits and pieces concerning characterization, including more time with Agent Woods, giving Catherine Keener a little more to do in the story. Also, a brief scene reveals the feature's villain long before the conclusion.

• "Sydney Pollack at Work" (10:02, SD) visits the filmmaker in the editing room, where he's assembling "The Interpreter." Pollack recounts his early career in the industry, starting as an actor after working up the courage to try it, eventually moving into teaching before returning as a director while still taking odd jobs as a screen performer. The helmer showcases his intent with the construction of the endeavor, and his interest in realism, traveling to Africa to shoot the feature's opening scene. Pollack admits there wasn't a script in place for "The Interpreter," forcing him to stay fluid with production demands, and he emphasizes technical challenges, including the mid-move bus explosion.

• "Interpreting Pan and Scan vs. Widescreen" (5:09, SD) finds Pollack in a fighting mood, extolling the virtues of widescreen presentations, discussing his own history with the aspect ratio, eventually stopping with "Out of Africa" when his movies were being butchered for television airings. Seated at an editing table, Pollack walks through a few examples of pan and scan, reinforcing how much it destroys his original framing.

• "The Ultimate Movie Set" (8:04, SD) visits the United Nations, which initially granted permission for Pollack to shoot "The Interpreter" inside the secretive building, only to cancel at the last minute. Pollack himself when to then Secretary-General Kofi Annan for assistance, with the picture soon back on track, working limited hours in such areas as the Security Council room and the General Assembly. Cast and crew marvel over the interiors, reinforcing the specialness of such access, and there's some BTS footage of Pollack keeping the crew on task.

• "A Day in the Life of Real Interpreters" (8:18, SD) meets with Diane Liao and Brigitte Andreassier-Pearl, two employees at the United Nations who've opened their doors to share what exactly an interpreter does at the building. There's a discussion of job requirements and the differences between interpreting vs. translation, along with a study of language awareness, forcing interpreters to keep up on slang and shifting meanings to best do their job. Professional pressures are explored, inspiring some to take up a musical instrument to balance themselves -- a personal detail Kidman picked up during her extensive research for the part. Pollack also describes the screenplay's invention of an African nation and language for the film.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (2:26, SD) is included.

The Interpreter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"The Interpreter" builds to a satisfying conclusion, hitting traditional thriller highlights as agents and assassins scramble around the city, and there's some time spent with the horrors of African genocide, keeping global concerns in play as the production strives to make something mainstream but meaningful. Pollack keeps his sense of timing, and does well getting Kidman and Penn where they need to go to create dimensional personalities. Perhaps it's not a Pollack classic, but "The Interpreter" certainly identifies what the late helmer did so well, making considered stories for a mature audience.