Syriana (2005)

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago at May 2 13:56

When I saw this on the big screen, my first reaction after the lights came on was "I need to see that again!". This is one of those films that keep you on your toes the entire time, and you're constantly asking yourself "What is going on?" It's not the kind of film that gets under your skin in that you get emotional satiscfaction or a resolution, rather it gets into your brain and settles in a corner and proceeds to bug you. It tells four stories of people in the oil business, in espionage, in the terror "business", and the legal business, all of them intertwined at some point, and none of the characters are up to good things. The film has a huge list of characters, so that doesn't make it any easier, but it is definitely an interesting film for those who don't like their films bein...Read more

Posted : 1 year, 9 months ago at Feb 19 10:39

I'm thankful I watched the movie, and didn't read the book. There are a lot of players and schemes going on, and I'm sure I couldn't have kept track of it in the book. In a way this could be considered a gangster film, even if some of the players were well respected governments. But somehow it was able to make nearly all of the characters multifaceted, and complicated, and not exactly "good" or "evil". It was a nice ensemble movie, smart, well shot, filled with "actors' actors" and thought provoking. And with most things based in real life, it didn't get all tied up with a bow at the end. George was good, Oscar-worthy I'm not sure.