Syriana...

Syriana

starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright.

Here's a quick thumbnail sketch of the many plots of the new Focus Features release, "Syriana," starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Christopher Plumber and Chris Cooper:

Story 1) Bob Barnes (Clooney) is a CIA covert operative in the Middle East. An expert in this region, he speaks Farsi, is tight with Hezbollah and even infiltrated al-Qeada.

Story 2) Energy expert and financial consultant, Bryan Woodman (Damon) lives a great life in Geneva with his lovely wife, Julie (Amanda Peet, "The Whole 10 Yards" and his two adorable little boys.

Story 3) Attorney Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright, "Broken Flowers" is hired by a Connex Oil Co. bigwig (Christopher Plummer, "The Insider" to find out any dirt on Connex's proposed merger with the small Kemmer Corporation before the Feds do. It seems that Kemmer has procured a deal with the vast oil fields of Kasakistan while Connex has just lost a big Saudi contract to the Chinese.

Story 4) A young Arab (Olivier Yglesias), despondent and unemployed because of the merger, is recruited into a radical Muslim terrorist organization.

And Story 5) A Saudi king passes up his oldest son, Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig) - a reformer and visionary who desires to bring progress and civil rights to his country - in favor of his less-qualified younger brother (Sam Georges said) who, conveniently, supports keeping US troops in his country.

That's basically the plot setup. Now the wheels begin to turn. Barnes is assigned by the CIA to arrange the assassination of Nasir; instead he is subjected to brutal torture by a rogue terrorists, led by Mussawi (Mark Strong, "Oliver Twist". Woodman becomes Nasir's chief financial adviser after his son's tragic death. Holiday, working with Kemmer honcho Jimmy Pope, finds a crooked connection in that company's big deal, and offers to cut a deal with the US Attorney's office. Later, after some bungling, the agency distances itself from Barnes, who heads to Saudi Arabi in an attempt to stop another plot against Nasir.

Evidently, Gaghan did a lot of research here, especially with Saudi royalty, and the intricate plots show this; likewise, the many location shots give a true, gritty feel to the picture. Use of Arabic and Farsi (along with English subtitles) also gives the movie a realistic look.

Reviews if you have seen it...

 

I haven't seen it yet, but it looks great. George Clooney is a lot more serious actor then most people know. The guy knows his stuff and his production company is all about putting out movies that mean something.

I think it will be pretty good.

 

Yeah I like George Clooney's movies although I'd say he's actually pretty average as far as acting goes. But you're right the guy definitely knows his stuff as far as production and picking profitable projects goes.

 

Yeah I was mainly talking about his love for movies and his movie knowledge. Every interview I read about him it just comes through.

I guy I do some work with was in Good Night, and Good Luck and speaks very highly of Clooney as well.

 

Heh I just wrote something about Solaris here, and there is thread about Clooney! I watched Solaris w/o breath. Now Clooney as actor is only good recommendation for movie..

 

I like clooney aswell, but cant stand Matt Damon, I was going to see the movie, but some people have tod me its more like a docudrama, dont know if I should wat till PBS toss it up or just go see it.....

 

Matt Damon blows.

All of Clooney's movies have basically been pretty good. Three Kings was even good- IMO.

Is that coming to DVD any time soon?

 

Damon was good in "good will hunting" but after that just started doing garbage stuff, but better than his buddy Aflack who made GiGi.....

 

Probably be a little while since it's still playing at theaters.

Here's the guy I know. Glen is a cool guy. He does a lot of character roles.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0607703/

What was cool was he was the actor opposite Clooney in the clip that Clooney took to every talk show and it was the only scene Glen was in.

 

Just another trashy propaganda flick from the Hollywood left.

 

This picture broght to you by the propaganda left.

 

You sure do look sexy in your knickers Rob.

 

Wow, you did a star?!?

 

Does an actress that was in a local commerical for a smal fast food Taco place count?

 

No, , but an actor does.

 

Hard to follow all the storylines and doesn't say anything smart people don't already know. If the topic/theme interests you, then you'll probably like it.

 

Just sit back and be brainwashed like a good little prole.

 

I like the plot and I guess the story is great..

Brainwashing?

Still, it depends on how criticical your mind is when dealing with that film...

 

Exactly what part do you think is brainwashing? That oil companies have blood on their hands as well as our government? I know you like to deny reality because you love GWB