Syriana
Rent & Buy
The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.
What critics thought
Critics largely admired Syriana's scope and Clooney's performance, but the film's deliberately fragmented, multi-threaded structure was its most argued-over quality — some saw the audience's confusion as a feature mirroring the characters' own disorientation, while others found it a blank tangle that substituted difficulty for genuine complexity. The gap between warm critical reception and a notably cool audience reaction suggests the film's demands aren't for everyone.
“Gaghan relies on Clooney's agnostic heroism to lure viewers into his maze. When they get there, they will find not a conventionally satisfying movie but a kind of illustrated journalism: an engrossing, insider's tour of the world's hottest spots, grandest schemes and most dangerous men.”
Richard Corliss·Time
“This is the best acting Clooney has ever done—he's hypnotic, haunting and quietly devastating.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“it's also the kind of movie that requires a viewer to work actively for comprehension, and to chalk up any lack of same to his or her own deficiency in the face of something so evidently smart.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum·Entertainment Weekly
“If anything, Syriana tends to oversimplify a mind-bogglingly multifaceted problem that cannot so easily be resolved by a diatribe against the supposedly all-powerful 'Americans.”
Andrew Sarris·The New York Observer
Accolades
Parents guide
- Violence
- moderate
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- moderate
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Stephen GaghanDirector
George ClooneyBob Barnes
Matt DamonBryan Woodman
Jeffrey WrightBennett Holiday
Chris CooperJimmy Pope
Amanda PeetJulie Woodman
William HurtStan
Christopher PlummerDean Whiting
Alexander SiddigPrince Nasir Al-Subaai
Kayvan NovakArash
Amr WakedMohammed Sheik Agiza
Robert FoxworthTommy Barton
Nicky HensonSydney Hewitt
Alexandre DesplatComposer
Robert ElswitCinematographySyriana
The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.
What critics thought
Critics largely admired Syriana's scope and Clooney's performance, but the film's deliberately fragmented, multi-threaded structure was its most argued-over quality — some saw the audience's confusion as a feature mirroring the characters' own disorientation, while others found it a blank tangle that substituted difficulty for genuine complexity. The gap between warm critical reception and a notably cool audience reaction suggests the film's demands aren't for everyone.
“Gaghan relies on Clooney's agnostic heroism to lure viewers into his maze. When they get there, they will find not a conventionally satisfying movie but a kind of illustrated journalism: an engrossing, insider's tour of the world's hottest spots, grandest schemes and most dangerous men.”
Richard Corliss·Time
“This is the best acting Clooney has ever done—he's hypnotic, haunting and quietly devastating.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“it's also the kind of movie that requires a viewer to work actively for comprehension, and to chalk up any lack of same to his or her own deficiency in the face of something so evidently smart.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum·Entertainment Weekly
“If anything, Syriana tends to oversimplify a mind-bogglingly multifaceted problem that cannot so easily be resolved by a diatribe against the supposedly all-powerful 'Americans.”
Andrew Sarris·The New York Observer
Accolades
Parents guide
- Violence
- moderate
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- moderate
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Stephen GaghanDirectorGeorge ClooneyBob BarnesMatt DamonBryan WoodmanJeffrey WrightBennett HolidayChris CooperJimmy PopeAmanda PeetJulie WoodmanWilliam HurtStanChristopher PlummerDean WhitingAlexander SiddigPrince Nasir Al-SubaaiKayvan NovakArashAmr WakedMohammed Sheik AgizaRobert FoxworthTommy BartonNicky HensonSydney HewittAlexandre DesplatComposerRobert ElswitCinematographyRent & Buy