Gareth Dunning

TWO of the hottest properties in Hollywood team up for what turns out to be a suspense-packed thriller with a difference.

Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn star in The Interpreter with both of them full of mistrust towards the other.

Set in the UN, Kidman is an interpreter of a little known African dialect and, while in the building late one night, she hears of a covert plot to kill the president of the fictional republic Matobo.

The assassination attempt is on a president who, although once loved, is now responsible for a mass genocide at home (no similarities to Mugabe and Zimbabwe then).

So Penn, who doesn't quite convince as a secret service agent, is brought in to find out if the impossibly perfect Kidman is telling the truth.

What follows is terrific stuff inspired by Sydney Pollack.

Yes, you have to suspend belief for a while - surely a woman with the knowledge of major assassination plot would not be left alone and Presidents don't leave work at 5pm to head down to the nearest strip joint (that's left for sub-editors).

But if you allow yourself to go with it, you are in for a terrific ride.

With unprecedented access to the UN, there is a lot of power marching around corridors and nervous glances. This is a fantastically shot movie that makes you want to catch the next flight to JFK.

And one scene on a New York city bus would keep anyone on the edge of their seat.

Whether the attempted chemistry between Penn and Kidman works is up for debate, but tune it, switch off and enjoy the show

7 /10 Something witty