Syriana

Pros: Story, acting
Cons: Overlong, talky, slow

Syriana (2005) "Dig six feet, find three bodies - but dig twelve feet and you may find forty." Real life is messy. Most of us would agree that things just don’t always work out the way we plan and Syriana tries to show the ...

Pros: Clooney and Damon, Strong story, many interlocking plots, realism
Cons: might seem a little confusing

Syriana is a film based on a book written by Robert Baer. That book was called "See No Evil", and must have been a pretty good one because of all of the characters within the story. The screenplay was adapted with the help of Stephen Gaghan, who also ...

Pros: Alexander Siddig can act well with the right material.
Cons: Too damn depressing, we get the message already.

After hearing a lot about how the critics raved about this film, and having it leer at me from my Netflix queue, it was finally time to watch it. And now, that I've sat through this deeply disturbing film, I wish that I hadn't. Syriana, adapted ...

Pros: intelligent, well-acted, with good direction and writing
Cons: an ensemble production with a somewhat byzantine plot

"Corruption charges...corruption? .... Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the street. Corruption...is why we ...

Pros: Ambitions. Intelligence.
Cons: Wholly unabsorbing. Similarly selfish characters.

From Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer of 2000's Traffic, comes Syriana, an ambitious film that shrugs off standard categorization. It's a political thriller that unusually emphasizes the politics over the thrills, with a dense plot ...

Pros: Clooney, Damon, Wright, Cooper; literate, complex and important.
Cons: Some might get frustrated with complicated plotlines and the various shades of gray.

The average American probably knows precious little about the various intricacies of the oil business. Beyond knowing that a lot of it comes from the Middle East and noticing that it keeps getting more expensive to fill up at the local station these ...

Pros: Acting, pace, editing, music, photography...
Cons: Convoluted, lack of characteriztion

Syriana is a political thriller from writer/director Stephen Gaghan who wrote the screenplay for Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000), another film with intertwining stories and themes and characters that defy simplistic categorization. Where ...

Pros: A look at the other side of the Middle Eastern equation.
Cons: Confusing plot and one scene (torture) that will lose some in the audience.

Syriana is another disappointment in a long list of 2005 movies that promised but didn't deliver. Call me a negative thinker, but 2004 was a much better year at the Bijou. Even so, the film had redemptive qualities and I have to give it high marks ...

Pros: smart, dry, political thriller strong dialogue excellent acting.
Cons: lack of women characters, sometimes confusing

"Corruption ain’t nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That’s Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our ...

Pros: Gaghan's superb writing and directing; electrifying acting and thematic elements; Clooney, Siddig
Cons: So intricately plotted, one viewing may not tie everything together; deeply critical of US policy

Bob Barnes (George Clooney) is a career CIA operative whose main charge over the past few decades has been to carry out covert assassinations in the Middle East. When a new assignment--an ordered hit on Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig), the idealistic but ...

Pros: Acting (esp. Clooney, Plummer, Wright, Siddig); taut pacing; timely plot themes; a few stunning scenes.
Cons: Incoherent storytelling of convoluted plot; one queasy scene; needs a glossary of terms!

I really wanted to cheer this latest George Clooney starrer. Having been pumped up by Mr Clooney’s ‘Good Night and Good Luck’, I had hoped ‘Syriana’ would be better than what the reviews had led me to believe – that it was a ...

Pros: Fascinating, complex, excellent cast
Cons: Invites political reviews, may polarize

Forget about politics and the convoluted relationships between our executive branch, the State Dept., and our intelligence staff, and just go to see "Syriana" if you are interested in serious filmmaking. Gaghan, a screenwriter from the movie "Traffic", ...

Pros: almost perfect as a film
Cons: hard to follow for some

Finally a great movie. I truly loved this work of art, a fictional story set in a very real world depicting exactly the various overlapping and complex forces that make up the global predicament in regards to war, peace and energy production, ...

Pros: Great performances from Clooney and Damon
Cons: Too much soapbox and very slow

The oil market has been something that many have speculated about for several decades. Does our nation really need this resource badly enough to go to war over it Is it cost effective to send our men and women into hostile lands to fight for this or ...

Pros: Direction. Action. Er, acting.
Cons: Tough to follow. Especially if you're sleepy.

Syriana is essentially the B-side to T raffic. The direction and script is virtually identical; conversations are captured from a spectator's perspective; the cinematography is variant, at times luscious and ...