Review of Promised Land (2012) by Jonathan B — 08 Oct 2015

This is an earnest and pleasant enough movie from Gus Van Sant. In Promised Land, Matt Damon and Frances McDormond play representatives of a fracking company, sent to a small town in the American mid-west in order to persuade the locals to sell them their farms in order that they can be developed.

They have no trouble putting their case forward to the poor, rural com until a local science teacher raises objections and it is decided that the town will hold a vote to determine the fate of the town.

The two executives face further problems when an environmental campaigner shows up hoping to paint the frackers as the bad guys. It is a fairly simple tale with uncomplicated characters. Damon's character believes in what he's doing in order to bring economic prosperity to the community while the locals opposed to him are doing so in order to preserve a landscape, heritage and way of life.

There are some attempts to add depth to the plot by making a bit of a twist part way through, though, to be honest, it isn't that much of a surprise. It's always a joy to watch Matt Damon and I particularly like Frances McDormond as an actress but neither of them are particularly stretched by this movie which plays in a very predictable and linear manner.

A shame as I think there's an important story to be told by this modern situation and I think it could have been handled with more care which could have brought us a really thought-provoking movie.