Syriana (2005) – Review

Directed by Stephen Gaghan

Syriana is a sophisticated thriller that demands your complete attention. With a great cast, which includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Christoper Plummer and Chris Cooper, Syriana is not your conventional thriller. Syriana has several plot lines, with each thread going its own way and somehow all linking back together. Syriana explores themes such as corruption, shady business deals, Intelligence agencies, deception, power, control and terrorism…

Instead of naming names, Syriana is smarter and asks all the right questions about the world today and lets you the audience make its own conclusions. Like Michael Mann’s ‘The Insider‘, Syriana draws you in and I noticed myself sitting on the edge of my seat, because I didn’t want to miss a word of dialogue in case a character said something really important.

I felt the film was very good, but found it a little confusing in some parts. For the average viewer, the film may be a little confusing. Overall Stephen Gaghan’s writing and vision is communicated effectively. So far, 2006 has been a great year for conscious filmmaking and I hope this continues.

9/10