Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an early look at the Stephen Gaghan flick SYRIANA starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright and more. Gaghan's script for TRAFFIC was great and his previous directorial outting... that flick with Katie Holmes... well, Gaghan's script for TRAFFIC was great! This sounds intense and I, for one, am greatly looking forward to it.
Sir Harry -
Nouvelle Vagueabond here. I've read your stuff for a while and I've always wanted to write something but never got the chance. Well tonight I've finally got one for you and it's a good one. I caught a movie called SYRIANA at an advance preview screening tonight in LA. Here's the scoop:
Starring George Clooney and Matt Damon, and directed by TRAFFIC's writer, Stephen Gaghan, SYRIANA's got some serious weight. And on the subject of weight, let me quickly say that all I knew about this movie going in was that it features a heftier than usual Clooney (if you're a closeted tabloid fiend in denial like me, I'm sure you saw the pictures last Fall).
That's not going to distract you after watching him for about three seconds on screen. I really think his performance as CIA agent Bob Baer is one that breaks his patented Danny Ocean mold. He anchors the film, and it's not the weight that does it this guy is a fantastic actor, brave, with real emotional range. Kudos to him!
That said, I don't know where to begin. SYRIANA isn't your standard movie. There are a bunch of storylines going, and there are a bunch of famous faces that pop up along the way. Let me see, Amanda Peet, Chris Cooper, and Jeffrey Wright are all in there.
I'll get into the plot here, but if this is one you're eagerly anticipating, you should know a serious SPOILER is on it's way. Don't even scroll down. This one is big.
So here goes. A lot like TRAFFIC did, SYRIANA jumps from storyline to storyline, and it's a challenge to keep up. It tells a complicated story about oil, the corruption in American government, and the Persian Gulf. Clooney and Damon each have their own story: George as an old school (bad ass) Middle East agent for the CIA and Matt as an oil trader working for riches in the gulf. Jeffrey Wright (such a good actor, turning in another chameleon like performance) is a junior lawyer working for an oil company merging with another one, keeping the government off their backs. His story is complicated and murky, but we learn his business is too, very corrupt.
There's also a young immigrant worker in the middle east who gets inspired by a Muslim radical and FIRST SPOILER HERE ends up becoming a suicide bomber who blows up a tanker in the gulf. (Sound familiar to anyone? SYRIANA hits a lot of notes that do.) Don't know who that young actor was, but his story is arguably the most moving of the bunch.
**HUGE SPOILER HERE**
I can't resist. There's a ridiculously intense torture scene where George gets his fingernails ripped off and beaten to a bloody pulp. I'm not sure why the guy torturing him is so mad, but he takes serious revenge. It's almost painful to watch, but it's so intense you can't quite look away. Scary.
Whew. Might sound daunting, but it's all weaved together with a lot of grace. I was a little lost at points, but I'd say the movie is 80% of the way there anyway. And here's the thing. I don't know about you all, but TRAFFIC impressed me, bottom line. Not ashamed to say I felt smarter after watching it. On that front, SYRIANA didn't disappoint even in this early stage of the film. I was confused at times, but I liked it anyway.
Besides, I also think it's about time Hollywood served up something like SYRIANA that gives us an honest picture of what's going on, a movie that's not afraid to make us think.
So keep tabs on this one, Aint It Coolers.
Until next time, this is Nouvelle Vagueabond, rolling out.
