Syriana Out of Gas

Hollywood writers need evil people/characters and corporations to make their movies interesting. The movie "Syriana" is the latest example of this.

Money is the root of all evil. And oil must be the other root of all evil.

What do I mean? This movie is all about how oil is bought and sold by evil men. Oil companies are protected by evil politicians. If good men get in the way of the buying and selling of oil and/or profits, these good men will be disgraced, tortured, and/or killed. And America is evil because of our thirst for oil and our willingness to do anything to make sure the oil keeps on flowing.

Normally evil is interesting and educational. But in this movie, evil is actually predictable and boring. The viewer, me, knows that the good CIA agent, the good oil prince, and various other good characters are doomed.

George Clooney's character, Bob, should be exciting. Just think of the tv show "24" and the character Jack Bauer. Whereas the CIA character Bob, in "Syriana, " looks like he's half asleep or on Prozac and doesn't seem to care (except when he is being tortured). Maybe the director was trying to show Bob as world weary but instead he looks like he is sleep walking.

As usual, actor Matt Damon is likeable as the character Bryan Woodman, a naive economic advisor to the good oil prince. Woodman eventually learns that business is war and he is dealing with dangerous people and he's no longer in Kansas.

Probably because of the times we live in, Hollywood is trying to make political statements through the magic of movies. Rent the movie "Lord of War" or "Kingdom of Heaven" and you'll see what I mean. But like the politicians they dislike, Hollywood is too heavy handed and blunt when making these movies to make the movies interesting.

"Syriana" does a clever job of intermixing the different characters and story lines but I've heard from other people that they left the movie very confused.