X
- 2005
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h 8 m
- 2005
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h 8 m
Summary From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for "Traffic," comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigues and corruption of the global oil industry. From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film's mul...
Directed By: Stephen Gaghan
Written By: Robert Baer, Stephen Gaghan
- 2005
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h 8 m
- 2005
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h 8 m
Syriana
76
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for "Traffic," comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigues and corruption of the global oil industry. From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film's mul...
Directed By: Stephen Gaghan
Written By: Robert Baer, Stephen Gaghan
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 40 Critic Reviews
76
90% Positive
36 Reviews
36 Reviews
10% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 40 Critic Reviews
76
90% Positive
36 Reviews
36 Reviews
10% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
For two hours I felt like a kitten chasing an elusive ball of catnip that remained just beyond my paw.
A gripping and fascinating tale of political intrigue that spans three continents, its focus trained on the volatile Middle East. It's a global portrait of danger, deception and disillusionment, with no dearth of human casualties.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 82 User Ratings
6.7
61% Positive
50 Ratings
50 Ratings
28% Mixed
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
11% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 82 User Ratings
6.7
61% Positive
50 Ratings
50 Ratings
28% Mixed
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
11% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
This is a drama film which covers themes including greed, desperation and exploitation. It is quite a sobering watch, one which could be said to rely on rather aged cliches, in as much as the Westerners trying to 'milk' the resources for their own financial gain/profit and the like. I did think it was somewhat eye-opening, in terms of some of the tactics used by different characters, how they reacted to certain scenarios. I thought it did well at showing both sides of the preverbial coin - how the local people dealt with things and how the foreign investers and politicians reacted and interpreted things. The film features a decent cast including George Clooney as Bob Barnes (a both quietly observant and also outspoken and motivated CIA agent), Kayvan Novak (perhaps more well known for his Channel 4 practical prank TV shows Fonejacker and Facejacker) as Arash and Christopher Plummer as Dean Whiting. Matt Damon plays Bryan Woodman, a fairly clued up agent who is under a certain amount of pressure to get a particular outcome, while also being reasonably stressed and frustrated and trying to look out for his family who reluctantly join him abroad. Amanda Peet plays his wife, Julie Woodman and Steven Hinkle plays his son Max. The full cast can be viewed via IMDB, of course - this title has a relatively long cast list, due to the large number of people who feature in it.
I felt it put across how volatile and politically fragile the regions are, quite well. There is eastern sounding music (perhaps arabic in origin?) played particularly during potentially volatile scenes which made me feel more tense, as I waited to see how things would pan out.
The camerawork was quite jerky at times and I noticed that motion was slightly exaggerated if anything, during pan shots, with walkways/paths seeming to wobble ever so slightly. Thats the only way I can think to word that really - it might not be an issue to some people but I imagine it could bother some, so I thought I may as well mention it in passing. The other, more obvious aspect or feature of this film that will put people off is the nearly constant use of subtitles. Due to this, you have to be able to concentrate on the screen for most of the film, as you'll otherwise find that your hearing foreign dialogue and may have missed some key plot details. There are the odd scene without dialogue and which is more reliant on background/incidental style music but compared to other films with mostly ocassional subtitles, this film features an awful lot of it. I'll leave it up to you to decide if thats a big issue or not. It didn't overly put me off and I realise that it would be unrealistic if all the characters spoke clear English. Goodness knows, for people who live abroad and speak other languages, they must have to read a ton of subtitles when watching US/UK films, if their not dubbed.
I thought that the film had a constant atmosphere of suspicion, I felt I was continually trying to second guess who may do what and what may be discovered. It is certainly a reasonably tense and gripping film and was a good watch on that basis. It certainly isn't a film for overly squeamish people and in a way it reminded me of the Fox TV show 24, in as far as the violence and threats were concerned. I don't think it'd be unfair to say that the term desperation applies and is clearly portrayed in this film - also fragility.
This film has quite a 'cloak and dagger' feel to it, which helped it seem a bit more engrossing, although I can't claim to have entirely followed all the plot intricacies as it did get a bit complicated, so I felt. At least I can't claim that it obviously dumbs down the subject, as that certainly doesn't seem the case but then maybe im not the most qualified person to say such - it didn't seem so to me in any case. It came across as a pretty witty and reasonably well thought out film, as far as I could tell.
I thought it was tense, with good performances by a decent cast and it was somewhat eye-opening. I can't say how accurate or otherwise it may be in reflecting the political 'status quo' at the time its set and it does feature some potentially frustratingly jerky camerawork, plus there are a lot of subtitles to read but I didn't feel that those issues ruined the film for me. It won't suit everyone but for what it is, it seemed pretty reasonable to me. I also thought the music was used quite well in key scenes to add to the tension but as far as answering the question of would I recommend it is concerned, I'd have to say that it depends on your opinion regarding subtitles and jerky camerawork. Some may find it a good watch, others less so.
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Reamarkable Matt Damon -and unrecognizable- George Clooney in a web about the influence of oil on the economy and global terrorism. Fiction drama nearby to real thing.
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It aims to be a great deal more than a standard geopolitical thriller and thereby succeeds in being one of the best geopolitical thrillers in a very long time.
Gaghan is attempting to cover so much ground in Syriana that the movie at times feels a little suffocating.
This multiplicity--of people, stories, settings--is both the weakness and strength of the film. It is not easy to follow all the various threads, to get the pith of every scene. Still, this very abundance gives the whole picture a sense of authority.
Syriana falls down at the most basic storytelling level, and this incoherence damages even the good parts.
The character and geographical jumps leave you in a muddle with thinly sketched personalities and confusing plot points. Worse, dialogue dense with nuance and shaded meaning flies by too quickly.
Syriana was a well put together movie. Although the story was difficult to follow, and I had to pause like 8 times to figure out what happened in the previous scene, it was brilliantly put together through both plot and script. Acting was also very good. I'm afraid not many people have seen, or understood, this movie as its puts things into perspective.
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changed by the ones who are affected by it..
Syriana Syriana is a character driven political thriller about an oil industry whose fate is not only left up to the ones that runs it but is changed by the ones who are affected by it. Distributed in multiple acts, the script is surprisingly gripping and keeps the audience on the edge of the seat. And even though it doesn't flow naturally as it should, the editing is quite impressive as the narration never loses its way. Ticking for two hours, and following few characters with multiple intervals, it may feel like an overstretched view and a far fetched concept. But it's layered and thought provoking ideology which it depicts through metaphorical incidents with crossover of characters and jaw dropping sequences, the feature sticks its landing safely. Gagham's projection of humane emotions might be accurate but is also poignant since it dwells on the darker side of the coin which may not be edible for everyone. The background score is pretty much flat with sharp sound effects and amazing cinematography and fine editing. The camera work is decently handled with stunning live locations that projects cultures and eye-popping cringing graphics whose credit goes to fine art designing. Clooney is doing some of his career's best work in here with Damon's calm and focused portrayal, Plummer's cunning smart act and Wright's survival spirit, all of it blending in aptly and delivering the anticipated performance from such huge cast. Gagham's adaptation is smart and adaptive and far better than his execution skills since it fails to close any sequence appropriately. Layered screenplay, accurate depiction on cultural insights and Clooney at the heart of it are the high of the feature. The craft Syriana is brimmed with, is how to foliate news into an effective and essential act, it may come with cons, but there are lots of pros.
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Syriana is an interesting political movie that deals with government and oil company corruption. The scenery and atmosphere of the movie is eye catching, as Matt Damon notes when cruising through the Iranian dessert; "It's beautiful out here." Interesting as it is, the film is also overly convoluted but strangely without much character depth. There are also a few things that don't make sense (why exactly is George Clooney flagging down that car car at the end of the movie!?). Overall, Syriana was a decent night's entertainment but also smells slightly of missed opportunity.
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Honestly, I was waiting for something more about this film. Having been directed and written by Stephen Gaghan, an Oscar winner for his work as a screenwriter, and with names as great as George Clooney and Matt Damon, I thought it would be a much better and more interesting film than it turned out to be.
The problem with this film, for me, was the overly ambitious script. The film crosses a series of stories that have in common the connection with oil, and the political, economic and interest games that are behind it: it all starts with a power conflict between two brothers, sons of a sheik. One is incapable, but is willing to allow the country's oil to be controlled by foreign companies, while the other wants to control the oil and use it for the benefit of the kingdom. When an American company is passed over by a Chinese consortium that has submitted a better offer, the United States decides to step in and send a CIA agent to the field. There is also a subplot involving a group of immigrant workers and other details to take into account. Gaghan wanted to take a step higher than his own legs and was unable to rise to the challenge he imposed on himself. The way he did the script was not happy and resulted in a disconnected, dispersed and confused story. At one point, I no longer knew the link between the characters and what was at stake, and I had to make an effort not to lose the thread. The film also makes a series of criticisms of the way oil is poorly managed as a resource and the number of conflicts on its behalf, but this turned out to be the most interesting and understandable part of the film.
The cast has strong names, but they are affected by the poor construction of their characters and the bland and uninteresting story. The connection between the characters and the audience is scarce: I just managed to have some sympathy for the reformist prince, it was the character that touched me the most and was very well played by Alexander Siddig, one of the less notable names in the film. George Clooney is another great actor and the film earned him the only Oscar he won as such (Best Supporting Actor), but it was hard for me to understand what he was doing here and, to be honest, I found it a bleak and uninteresting performance, especially if we think of other incredible films he entered ("Ocean's Eleven", "Monuments Men" etc.). The same can be said of Matt Damon, who has the strangest character in the film: a businessman who, after losing a son in an accident at the Arab prince's house, is hired by him as a form of compensation and ends up becoming his friend. There are many moral issues surrounding this subplot, and we could almost accuse this character of rising in life at the expense of the death of her own son. Indifferent to everything, Damon leaves us a bland and dormant performance. Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Chris Cooper and Jeffrey Wright also appear in the film and do a decent job, but it is not the right film to shine and there is not much they can do to save it.
The film does not seem technically brilliant. Cinematography is good, but neither surprising nor enchanting. The sets and costumes are good and realistic, the use of real sets and filming on location was a welcome bonus, which brings an additional dose of realism and credibility. The effects used are good enough, but just that. The pace is good, and it is not because it is more than two hours length that it becomes boring. There are some intense scenes, and that includes the death of a child in an accident and a very realistic and very well done torture scene. For me, these scenes were also a bonus, as well as the use of the Arabic language, rarely used in cinema.
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Production Company
Warner Bros.,
Participant,
4M,
Section Eight,
FilmWorks,
MID Foundation
Release Date Nov 23, 2005
Duration 2 h 8 m
Rating R
Tagline Everything is connected
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
National Board of Review, USA
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
