Voltron87
11-30-2005, 02:38 AM
I thought this movie had a really big upside and some pretty big weaknesses. Overall I really liked it, but I thought there was a lot which could be improved on and the movie didnt fulfill its potential, which was pretty high. The upside was that the general idea behind the plot is very good. Tracking the merger and how it plays out was a good way of bringing up these issues. It was well shot, a lot of the settings/lighting was well done IMO, and the performance by damon is really good. wright and cooper are also good. clooney is good, nothing special.
problems: some of the parts of the movie are way too not subtle and needed to be toned down. first: the lobbyist who has a dumb schpeel about corruption. way to overcast that part by using a ugly pasty white guy with bad teeth and a badly fitting suit. dumb. second: when matt damon is at the little sheik party and sees his wife calling on his phone and chooses to ignore it... come on, damon was doing a good job playing that part and its emotional swings and how he reacted to getting to work with the sheik, that bit was not a good idea. third, the pakistani kid who becomes a terrorist. LAME. kid loses job in foreign oil field, becomes a terrorist after about 15 minutes of screen time. uh, get more creative than that. and the way they showed him saying
character in question: "well, i'm not sure if this is what I want to do or if i believe in this group and allah 100%"
other character: "yeah it is, you questioning your faith just means you are a true believer"
character in question: "nah thats BS"
next time we see him he is blowing himself up. first off, that storyline is a huge cliche and predictable, secondly they did a poor job showing his thoughts. those scenes were boring.
Lastly, I found the movie harder to follow than I thought I should. It got a bit convoluted when everyone figures out what Killen did and what happens with the sheik succession line. and the ending is rushed. the movie could have been much better with 30 more minutes on the end explaining where things go, what happens to the players. it needed more of a conclusion. at the end matt damon just walks away from the airstrike rubble, straight home and hugs his kids and wife. connex killen never really gets hashed out... etc.
the movie was good and im recommending it, but it oculd have been much better. its a really good idea and premise with a lot of good acting, and storylines, and i liked the look and pace of the first 3/4 of the movie, but it has a couple big flaws.
problems: some of the parts of the movie are way too not subtle and needed to be toned down. first: the lobbyist who has a dumb schpeel about corruption. way to overcast that part by using a ugly pasty white guy with bad teeth and a badly fitting suit. dumb. second: when matt damon is at the little sheik party and sees his wife calling on his phone and chooses to ignore it... come on, damon was doing a good job playing that part and its emotional swings and how he reacted to getting to work with the sheik, that bit was not a good idea. third, the pakistani kid who becomes a terrorist. LAME. kid loses job in foreign oil field, becomes a terrorist after about 15 minutes of screen time. uh, get more creative than that. and the way they showed him saying
character in question: "well, i'm not sure if this is what I want to do or if i believe in this group and allah 100%"
other character: "yeah it is, you questioning your faith just means you are a true believer"
character in question: "nah thats BS"
next time we see him he is blowing himself up. first off, that storyline is a huge cliche and predictable, secondly they did a poor job showing his thoughts. those scenes were boring.
Lastly, I found the movie harder to follow than I thought I should. It got a bit convoluted when everyone figures out what Killen did and what happens with the sheik succession line. and the ending is rushed. the movie could have been much better with 30 more minutes on the end explaining where things go, what happens to the players. it needed more of a conclusion. at the end matt damon just walks away from the airstrike rubble, straight home and hugs his kids and wife. connex killen never really gets hashed out... etc.
the movie was good and im recommending it, but it oculd have been much better. its a really good idea and premise with a lot of good acting, and storylines, and i liked the look and pace of the first 3/4 of the movie, but it has a couple big flaws.