Review of Promised Land (2012) by Maksim B — 02 Jul 2013

Promised Land is a well-written and directed drama, which blends environmental issues with corporate practices and dirty corporate interests. With a compelling story, flawless pacing and very solid cast, this is a partially disturbing anti-corporate movie with unclear pro-environmental message and lack of sufficient grip on the audience. Surprisingly sharp-less and predictable, it fails to create the effect which it aspires to.

The discussion around hydraulic frackuring has been so active in the media in the recent years that Promised Land grabs the attention of the audience from the very beginning. The story is set in a small rural town, where two "buyers" (Matt Damon and Frances McDormand) are sent to negotiate the lease of lands for frackuring and to convince the locals to allow it. After a brief introduction of both characters a short, but critical introduction of their "corporate negotiating", the movie takes off when they get challenged by an elderly local school teacher and a local vote is to determine the outcome of the leasing contract. It should be mentioned that director Gus van Sant has successfully managed to smoothen the slowly paced beginning of the movie and to keep the audience intrigued in the story, until the moment that the real challenger of Matt Damon and Frances McDormand appears.

At that point, Promised Land turns into a very intriguing and engrossing movie. Gus van Sant skillfully reveals Damon's character and past, while he faces an opponent who seems to be winning the anti-fracturing fight. He also adds a soft, but pleasant glimpse of romance and provides some additional space for the strange character of Frances McDormand. This does not completely compensates for the fact that at one point Gus van Sant's delivery becomes too pro-environmental, way too anti-corporate and anti-capitalist. Given the track record of its director this should not surprise most of the audience. Unfortunately, what really destroys the whole movie and all Van Sant's efforts is the ending of the movie. Ridiculous and excessively sentimental it would have been just fine, if it was not perfectly predictable. The more attentive viewers would be able to predict at least 15 minutes before the end, what is going to happen and this destroys the pleasure of going through the whole movie.

Promised Land is definitely not a bad movie. It is engaging, with solid performances and a topic that really intrigues. What really deprived this movie from becoming a potential awards contender was indeed the final act; these final 20 minutes which totally failed to match the relatively high standard of the rest of the movie. Certainly, a worth-seeing delivery, which could have been much better !