Syriana

[modage]

ihtsib, GT is right.

[Pozer]

Sorry to but in guys.  Just wanted to point out how much Pubrick's new av rocks!  Partly cause I just watched EWS last night.  How does that film get even better with each viewing by the way?  Anyways, that is all.  On with the Chlorophyll or god knows what you guys were speaking of.

[Fernando]

No love for my av?   

Oh, can't wait they release Syriana around here.

[Pozer]

Sorry about that, Fernando.  P's sticks out a bit more, little more crisp and clean and all around high-larious!  For some reason that scene has always been funny to me in slow pace form.  And he cleverly worked in that signature bee.  Much love for yours too though, my man.

[ono]

yeah ebert and two other critics i trust said that it's complex. that's my basis, i haven't seen the movie. have you seen it¿

Now I have.  And the criticisms are quite correct.  This film isn't bad, but it just isn't good, and it accomplished nothing.  I agree with mod, who agrees with GT.  It reminds me of Arlington Road (a horrible film), but not as egregious in its offenses.  The whole "corruption keeps us safe and warm" speech sounds like preaching and not the genius of Douglas's character in Wall Street, when he's ACTUALLY preaching.  More solid comments later when I'm less tired.

[NEON MERCURY]

It reminds me of Arlington Road (a horrible film),

hahaha........ouch!

that might be worse than the e-town/garden stae comparisons


ono, you serious?

[ono]

ono, you serious?

As a heart attack.  I got bored, and then at the end I got my intelligence insulted (hence, the Arlington Road comparison).  It was like being punched in the gut, being made to feel guilty.  Gaghan was right in talking to July, trying to infuse the film with some heart, and he was onto something.  But he didn't find the balance needed for this film.  There was no humanity.  No entrance point to allow us to identify with anyone.  We try to get involved with Clooney, but he's given too little screen time.  Too many characters spread too thin.  Gaghan just took on too much, and making the film longer wouldn't even help.  Instead of feeling bad for Damon's character and Peet's character, we're just... "dead kid?  boo-hoo."  Next?  It's a one-two punch, the one scene leading up to the kid's death, and there's no finesse to it at all.  Ultimately, this was a drama that should've been a documentary.  I will give credit to the torture scene.  The one time I actually woke up and felt involved in the film.

[killafilm]

I just watched Three Days of the Condor yesterday, and for some reason it makes me like Syriana even more.

[Reinhold]

i saw it a couple days ago.

i found it to be unnecessarily vague but still interesting, as per the opinions expressed by several people earlier in this thread.

i felt like somebody was telling me a story by which they were deeply troubled-- saying things that, to them, would have been very emotionally powerful. the writer may have had an intricate knowledge of all of the things that the plot touched on, but it came off to me as one movie trying to fit waaaay too much into two hours. to a viewer with no background on the story, it was just a series of events that were clearly important to a larger story. the larger story itself was largely left to be assumed.   i left the theater sufficiently "what the fucked" indeed. this just isn't a movie you can walk into with little or no prior knowledge, even if you thought you'd really dig it.

i'll give it a low B.

[Ultrahip]

The problem is, Stephen Gaghan assumed Americans read books and newspapers.

I await the following argument: "It's his responsibility to dumb it down."

[life_boy]

Ultimately, this was a drama that should've been a documentary. 

I have no idea how this would have been possible.

[ono]

Really?  It's quite simple.  Instead of veiling opinions, Gaghan should've pulled a Michael Moore and done some real digging.  I should've used the words "wanted to be a documentary."  I'm not familiar with the source material, though, so I'm not sure how close to "truth" or "reality" this film is.

[life_boy]

I was implying that a documentary on this subject would look nothing close to what this film is (or looks like).  We would not likely see any of the power struggle from so intimate a point-of-view.

Instead of veiling opinions, Gaghan should've pulled a Michael Moore and done some real digging. 

Ha ha.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Really, how could this have been a documentary without being a talking heads show with slow zooms on still pictures? How are you going to get close to these guys? That's the point. Syriana takes you inside, where you'd have your throat cut for wearing a wire or having a hidden camera. I think Gaghan did the best he could by using his research and real-life (though unrecorded) meetings with some of these people for a fiction film.

[Reinhold]

i do read books and newspapers.  i was still what the fucked.