It was only this weekend when we announced that Syriana was a little hidden wonder when it came to the box office weekend. Though only in its limited release, Syriana had the highest earnings per theatre. Is the limited release to prove that Syriana has got what it takes to be a great film or is last weekend's box office a fluke?
Syriana Early Review
The good people over at AICN have recently received an early review that both praises Syriana and criticizes it. Though Syriana has been considered an extremely political film that has a target on our global economy's current status, the review was king enough to touch on the points made in the film and analyze the production behind the film rather than the subject material.
Syriana is the most ambitious and seemingly important political film released in 2005 thus far, a thematic and cultural cautionary tale with an impressive scope, but surprisingly limited poignancy. Here’s a movie filled with meticulous details about horrific situations in the world, all because of a natural resource that tragically links political, economic, and religious beliefs to different people, yet loses the very power and immediacy those details are meant to explore. It’s not often that a film delves into such edgy, realistic material with as much passion and ferocity as Syriana, and while that fearlessness is certainly admirable, writer-director Stephen Gaghan unfortunately loses the visceral emotional impact he’s so determined to accomplish.
Several different stories intercut throughout the picture, some that connect directly, some indirectly. Everything surrounds the greed and consequences of America’s dominance over oil profits and constant misunderstanding and mistreatment of middle-east affairs. Oil is a valuable commodity that causes massive repercussions with middle-east nations and American corporations. It’s a source of corruption, crime, terrorism, and war both abroad and at home. Gaghan impressively tries to cover as much ground as possible by presenting the subject’s many different angles. Syriana is filled with characters and subplots, some very well realized and others under-developed and bland. While each story serves a purpose, that purpose is structured more like bullet-points from Gaghan’s notes than actual filmmaking. Here’s a breakdown of the many angles Gaghan wants to explore.
Syriana is definitely one of those films that should have a nice draw on its opening weekend. To be honest-- the only thing Syriana has to worry about is the heightened box office competition thanks to the release of three of this year's biggest films.
To check out the entire review for Syriana, head over to AICN.
The film continues on five screens next week and have a wide release on December 9th.
Syriana had a limited release on November 23rd.
For a couple movie stills, movie info and synopsis, go to the Syriana
Movie Page.
Syriana
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