FILM REVIEW: Syriana

[Sephus]

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The United States, it will suprise no one to learn, consumes the vast majority of the fossil fuels in the world

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Surprises the hell out of me, as it is not true.

link

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obviously what i meant is that in proportion to other countries we have a vast majority of the use and either way i've got enough stuff to look up for these things already.

what's that concept in writing? it may not be accurate, but it's true....or something like that. i forget the details. but the point remains the same, even if the numbers don't add up to 100%

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english, mother[censored]! do you speak it??

[pryor15]

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The United States, it will suprise no one to learn, consumes the vast majority of the fossil fuels in the world

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Surprises the hell out of me, as it is not true.

link

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obviously what i meant is that in proportion to other countries we have a vast majority of the use and either way i've got enough stuff to look up for these things already.

what's that concept in writing? it may not be accurate, but it's true....or something like that. i forget the details. but the point remains the same, even if the numbers don't add up to 100%

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english, mother[censored]! do you speak it??

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um....ok

[andyfox]

Just saw the movie. Didn't like it. David Denby's review in The New Yorker sums up a lot of my feelings, so I'll quote from it:

Syriana . . . is a major film without being a great film. It's a strange movie, and a stunningly pessimistic one.

. . . like the cocaine trade in Traffic," oil is the life, the obsession, the only reality. It gets people killed, tortured, blown up, thrown on the junk heap.

As you watch the movie, with its twenty or so characters, many of them duplicitous, you have to keep reminding yourself who each one is and who he works for. It's as if you were constantly prepping for a quiz.

The oddness of "Syriana" is a result of its form: the many characters take what reality they have solely from their participation in Gaghan's intricate plan, and some of them get lost. In brief, this is an epic movie without a hero or a protagonist--or, rather, the protagonist is the oil business itself, which controls everyone. So much money can be made in oil, the movie says, that no one working in it would be foolish enough to behave ethically.

That perception may be why Gaghan constructed "Syriana" as he did. But if good people are considered ineffectual to begin with, or, even worse, a nuisance or irrelevant, then it's virtually impossible to construct a story around their efforts.

What's going on? At the moment, mere activity has replaced storytelling, irony has replaced heroism, and the taste of victory has turned to wormwood and gall.

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An interesting movie, but not a good one.

[Ulysses]

andy,

I liked this movie a lot.

[Voltron87]

i wrote a review of this a while ago, when it was only out in nyc, i really liked it as well. i thought it should have been about 30 minutes longer though , i think they botched the ending a bit.

[fyodor]

I thought it was competently made but didn't care much for it.

Here's something weird I found about the plot:

George Clooney's character is double crossed, kidnapped and tortured. He has at least 2 fingernails pulled off with pliers (probably 3 because I am sure we later see 3 bandaged fingers) The guy torturing him wants to know who Clooney has worked for. Surely the guy already knows the answer. Clooney knows the guy knows the answer. He still refuses to talk. He is saved by the local Hezbolla agent who comes by just as Clooney's neck is about to severed and informs the torturer that Clooney has been give a get out of jail free pass while in Tehran.

So the torturer then rats to the media that Clooney is a CIA agent who is in Tehran to assasinate a prince. This happens to be true. The CIA quickly concots a story that Clooney is a rogue agent who has been uncontrollable since 9/11. He is then investigated by another gov't agency.

Having his nails pulled was no problem. Once he is 'under investigation' he snaps and basically goes on a mission to rat out the CIA to the prince.

wtf? Wouldn't any CIA agent EXPECT to be abandoned in a similar situation? Of course you are going to take the blame. I would think it's all part of the training.

btw while the finger nail torture is going on some other guys are playing cards for money in the next room and they only show mild interest even when the guy is about to cut Clooney's head off. I think I would have gotten up to see the beheading.

If I messed up any of the details of the plot here it was because it was very complicated and I saw it last week.

Also before I went in I was in the w/c throwing up (there was something about that in another thread) and some guy who just came out told my gf that it was the most boring movie he ever saw and the first time he actually snored through a movie. Anyone you know op?

[WillMagic]

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I Didnt wanna read your review cuz I plan on seeing this movie and didnt want to see any spoilers. Could you just reply to this and give it a 1-5 rating or something? I havent heard any feedback on this movie yet and im interested if its good or not. I just dont want to read your entire review to find out if you liked it.

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I'd give it a 2.

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are you liberal or conservative? i'd imagine that one's view of this movie would be somewhat related to their personal politics ...

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This wasn't the case for me. I'm extremely pro-capitalism and in favor of completely laissez-faire system, and out of all the movies I've seen this year, the two I liked most were The Constant Gardener and the aforementioned Syriana. I don't agree with the conclusions of either film...but each was really well made and intellectually engaging.

Will

[pryor15]

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Also before I went in I was in the w/c throwing up (there was something about that in another thread) and some guy who just came out told my gf that it was the most boring movie he ever saw and the first time he actually snored through a movie. Anyone you know op?

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the guy who snored through mine was old. i think it was just too late for him.

[ilya]

I saw this movie today. I liked it. It seems to reflect reality much more closely than most movies even try to do. I was also impressed that a movie with fairly serious ambitions managed to entertain me as much as it did.

[Leaky Eye]

No mention of the swimming pools?