Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

The movie shows what a "Gordian Knot" the whole
oil, CIA, Middle East, and globalized economy,
has become. No purely good guys in sight. Clooney
does a great job demonstrating that a CIA career
operative in the 21st century, may have to kill
and put himself in harm's way...but for little
pleasure, fun& games or eventual satisfaction in a life well spent. A final blow to the nobility of "spying for your country". It makes CIA ops
work about as satisfying as wacking deadbeats for
a New Jersey loan shark. Overall, it gives you the insight that appearances are everything in
the energy,industrial/geopolitical world. It is
all reflected in Clooney's disillusioned weariness.

Funny, my reaction was just the opposite. I left the theater bored. I had an intellectual appreciation for the movie, but I was bored. It was a long, complex, and surprisingly pedestrian film. Check out my own review of it at http://law-career.blogspot.com/2005/12/syriana-misrepresents-international.html.

But the more I thought about it after the fact, the more I strongly believe we need more movies like it. It was an intelligent film, after all, and it did not pander. And a fat George Clooney makes us all feel a lot better about ourselves.

Funny, my reaction was just the opposite. I left the theater bored. I had an intellectual appreciation for the movie, but I was bored. It was a long, complex, and surprisingly pedestrian film. Check out my own review of it at http://law-career.blogspot.com/2005/12/syriana-misrepresents-international.html.

But the more I thought about it after the fact, the more I strongly believe we need more movies like it. It was an intelligent film, after all, and it did not pander. And a fat George Clooney makes us all feel a lot better about ourselves.

Gregory,

I enjoyed your review and agree with your reasons to like it. I didn't find it boring, though. And, while you're right about the depiction of lawyers, Jeffrey Wright did a heck of a job in the role of the main lawyer.