Film Review: Syriana (2005) B-

Date Viewed: 1/06
Venue: AMC Burbank 8

Syriana is the latest in what is becoming a popular kind of Hollywood film. Roger Ebert calls thiese films ‘hyperlink’ movies. Basically, it’s a film involving characters whose lives and stories intersect almost randomly, slowly drawing together a cohesive narrative.. You could say Pulp Fiction helped popularize this sort of film, with Magnolia, Traffic (un-coincidentally written by Syriana writer/director Stephen Gaglan), Crash, and now Syriana following in it’s footsteps.

The film is a sort of roundabout examination of the west’s role in the Middle East, using a variety of perspectives and complex, interweaving storylines. We follow Bob Baer (George Clooney), a blue-collar CIA operative, two Arab brothers fired from their stable job on an oil rig, The Namesake, playing an American corperate lawyer focused on investigating a large oil company takeover, Matt Damon, playing a economist who is taken in by a prince (Alexander Siddig), a suprising liberal heir to a middle Eastern throne. Confused? Well, I said it was complex, didn’t I? This is not a movie you can get up and leave for popcorn or the restroom, there’s just too much going on, and missing even two minutes would probably leave you confused for the remainder of the film.

The actual specifics of the plot are less important than the broader issues upon which the film touches upon: terrorism, western dependence on middle-eastern oil, and how it’s in the oil companies best interests to keep these middle eastern states repressed and undemocratic. While it works well presenting these broad strokes, the film suffers a bit trying to balance the varying stories. I wish the film could’ve been a little more economic, maybe eliminating one of it’s storylines. Bob’s storyline in particular, a loyal government agent betrayed by his employers and left hung out to dry, isn’t particularly new or original. Ironically, the real-life Bob Baer wrote the book upon which Syriana is based, so I understand why it’s part of the movie, I just wish it weren’t.

I can’t say I really liked Syriana as a whole. I found it’s intentions worthy, but it’s too unbalanced and slightly too unfocused. Certain storylines are well structured, while some fall flat and others feel as though they need much more attention. The performances are solid (particularly Alexander Siddig and Matt Damon), but not enough to carry the film as a whole.