The best word to describe this movie is “What?” I admit that I’m no genius, but this movie did little favors for the viewer. I understand that the situation in the Middle East is complicated and that no party is fully innocent or fully to blame, but good storytellers excel at the art of taking complicated stories and communicating them simply. This does not mean it requires a “Hollywood Ending”, but it does mean that story structure, context, and dialog work together to help the viewer maintain the through line of the story. The creators of Syriana clearly had no such respect for their viewers (or, perhaps, gave us too much credit) and that is the greatest downfall of this generally engaging film.
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