The tagline in the in-flight entertainment menu that sold the movie to me was intriguing enough on its own, doubly so for a former translator. The cast did a great job (it was particularly wonderful to see Patrick Bauchau speaking French) and the first 40-50 minutes rolled out in a promising way. But once the main plot kicked in, it all went downhill. For one, the main twist could be seen from a mile away. More importantly, however, the whole pseudo-heist thing and the revelations that followed made no sense at all. The critique of capitalism in the literary scene - for which there was a lot of potential, from the slave-like conditions the translators worked in to the fact that their work gets recognition - fell flat, especially against the shallow drama. And ultimately, the movie ended up dealing in tired old tropes. What a waste.
Review of The Translators
