Review of Syriana (2005) by Jeffrey L — 12 Oct 2009

It aspires to make a definitive statement about a difficult social problem a la Gaghan's previous screenwriting effort "Traffic", but unlike that film, which juggled its interlocking storylines with aplomb and wove separate commentaries on different aspects of a fiendishly complex issue into a unified and trenchant whole, "Syriana" is a convoluted mess.

Too many of the players here are crude stereotypes - greedy Texas oilmen, unscrupulous corporate lawyers, decadent Arab princes, shady CIA operatives, and the like - and despite toying with some provocative ideas the film ultimately states a case that doesn't amount to much more than a slapdash, incoherent mix of obvious truths (control of petroleum resources is a major driver of geopolitical conflict, oil money props up despots in the Arab world) and boilerplate, campus Marxist-grade leftist hysteria (the oil business is shady and corrupt and stuff, and, like, CEOs and politicians and other evil old white guys in America are like, controlling the puppet strings and totally offing people who try to fight the man).

There are some good performances and a few very effective scenes, and I can see why it struck a nerve and was taken as profound in the paranoia-addled Bush era, but on the whole, this is a wildly overrated movie that has not aged well.