Just saw Syriana on DVD

Missed it in the theaters. Anyone else who hasn't seen it needs to. I'ts even more relevant today then when it came out.

from others. Will be seeing it soon.

some scenes are pretty graphic, just a warning, in case stuff like that bothers anyone.

Still a highly recommended movie, IMO.

for this one. He's barely recognizable.

which didn't deserve to be shut out at Oscar time. That was also such a great film, and you could tell it was a real work of passion for Clooney! Some will say that this Oscar was also given to him in part to honor his work on this other film last year.

bother me. You knew they were coming so could dunk under your blanket if necessary. And it's just a couple.

I wonder if it will be On Demand on Time/Warner cable?

but it left a bad taste in my mouth...

1) couldn't they find a 'real' story to dramatize...
2) the role of an 'idealistic' CIA contractor (Clooney) seemed a bit much
3) what was up with the ending? While I liked the fact that events came together to show a 'fake'? suicide bombing...how the character managed to make it to that point in the road is pure Hollywood and didn't match the 'matter of fact' tone of the rest of the movie...

I suppose it was alright...

1)I think if you read between the lines it was a pretty "real" story it was based on a book written by a 25 year vet of the CIA
2)I didn't think Clooney was that idealistic when he was describing to Christopher Plummer what woould happen to his family.
3) Not sure what you mean about character not being able to make it. I think the CIA was using a hellfire on a drone plane. they could pretty much target them anywhere.
Just my opinions.

Who told them what car the Gulf prince was riding in?...before they blew it up.

:shrug:

There was a quick scene of one of the henchmen calling it inon a cell phone.

OK...but I understood that the informant bodyguard guy was phoning the 'NSA corporate creepy bad intel' guys with the hellfire missiles to tell THEM which car to hit...last scene that Clooney's character is in prior to this was, if I am not mistaken, hanging out in Virginny threatening his former handlers that basically set him (clooney) up as a patsy--then all of a sudden, this guy, even though he is wanted, manages to spirit himself out of the states (passports?) and into 'non-specificied Arab country' where he was just tortured and kicked out of? Wouldn't the scary intel guys in the US tip off their pals in Arabland that the guy they just tortured is coming back for round two? It would have been better if Clooney was 'taken care' at a US airport on his way out.

I liked the movie--but it did strike me as the basic story that was being told was infused with a lot of meaningless complexity and ommission just to make Clooney's theory (the writer and actor) about 'people working individually, don't necessarily see the big picture'.

Problem here is that the 'chars' in the movie know the relationships between the various players and agencies; it is the audience that is kept in the dark largely through ommission.

Also what about that weird scene at the end? That certainly wasn't in keeping with the fragmentary super-realism of the rest of movie? The fact the ending is there makes me wonder about what exactly is being said? I'll assume that if the movie/events continued, the media would be fed a cover story about the assassination of the 'good' prince, who loves his people and doesn't want some US-style puppet client state, by 'suicide bomber'. Of course, it would leak out that it was former CIA contractor and so 'on cue' a hundred conspiracy pages would show up on the Net confusing all of us as to what really happened.

I am not arguing with you all. I am just curious as to what other people got out it -- I'm probably off base...

He got his passports back after threatening Christopher Plummer's character.
He was tortured in Beirut not the mythical 'non-specificied Arab country'.
I still don't get how Bob figures out that the older Emir's son had been targetted. Did he just work that out for himself, or did he get that from the break-in at Plummer's house?
The guy that tortured Clooney was a double agent right? He was working for the Iranians as well as being an asset for Bob/CIA right? That part confused the hell out of me...

All-in-all a very good, complex movie that really gets you thinking.

Well yeah but but....LOL...at the beginning of the movie he sold those two stingers (one was obviously for an assassination), but the other one shows up at the end of the movie tied to a 'USS Cole' type suiciding bombing by the 'good' guys or were they the 'bad' guys? So then one can assume that Clooney might have been played from the very first reel -- or, as you mention, running an unauthorized 'off the shelf' operation that didn't get approval in the first place, by his handlers?

One thing I did love is that Clooney showed how easily and how complicit, corporations are in all this cloak and dagger stuff as they are so matter of fact about the spooks they work with in certain delicate acquisition?

I thought he was threatening Plummer over his life and wanting to clear his name? Was it Beirut where he was tortured -- he was grabbed there.

It was nice to see the 'white' hat, 'black' hat fiction being played out--that's one of the strong points of the movie.

"All-in-all a very good, complex movie that really gets you thinking."<-- big agree...best review yet, Truebrit71

though - just timely and a good way to make people aware of some of these issues. I was already fairly aware (as are most DUers) so it wasn't a revelation to me.

I liked it. It was neither warm n' fuzzy nor was it deeply moving. It was cold like the subject matter.

"Munich" was good too but man, was it hard to watch.

I really dug "Lord of War". That one really illustrated (to me) how fucked up things are.

Off Topic, but if you want to see a really great flick and you don't mind that the main character is a gay man that prefers to dress as a woman, rent "Breakfast on Pluto". Best film I've seen in months.

Tell me, how the hell is all the violence in the world going to be stopped when the legal arms trade dwarfs the illegal arms trade that Nicholas Cage's character was involved in, and the top five legal arms dealers are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council? :banghead:

I'm glad I picked it up on DVD, I found it really hard to follow in theatres.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Also now available in paperback too. It will really help you understand the forces behind the scenes and put them in perspective. I think I read someplace that this film was inspired some by this book. Not sure on that though.

I actually watched it twice in the theater. The first time I went late at night when I was tired and fell asleep in the middle. Big Mistake! When I woke up towards the end, I was totally lost at trying to figure out what was going on. The second time helped a lot in figuring out what was going on. If there was a criticism of this movie, it was that it had a lot of plot complexity that is hard to follow at times, and perhaps in some areas character and plot development suffered a little. That's probably what kept it from being more considered as a best picture Oscar.

It still is an awesome movie, and it is one I hope there's a "Director's Cut" out later.

In much the same fashion, I'm also hoping to find some time to watch the four disc Kingdom of Heaven Director's cut release soon. That movie also suffered from a lot of editing, etc. in favor of battle scenes over plot development, and I'm hopeful that the director's cut helps this deficiency of what was otherwise a very good film!

I really liked the movie a lot, although it was a bit hard to follow in the beginning. In fact, think I will watch it again tonight.

which really speaks to the circuitous, incestuous relationships between politics, governments, and big oil. Really scary implications.

Hubby is on his way to pick it up. I am not reading any spoiler parts of this thread!
Thanks for reminding us all.

I'll get back with you. ;) :hi:

I saw this in the theater too. It is such a dense movie, with so much going on, you really need to view it several times, I think. George Clooney has really been involved in a lot of interesting projects since leaving "ER."

but has show himself to be a really good actor. I can tell he really worked on it. Bravo to Clooney.