Syriana left me deeply mixed. That review feels like a cop-out, but it’s all I can do a few days later. The story stretched, badly. The movie didn’t drag, but its efforts were too blatant somehow. Yet some of the characters were compelling, and I am glad I saw the movie simply to get visuals of the oil infrastructure and some snapshots of the Middle East. The combination of desert and modern infrastructure pictured made Las Vegas seem environmentally sound by comparison.
A Metacritic score of 76 means I’m on the lower side of the interest curve on this one.
Side note: I find it very difficult to watch films where young children die as part of the plot. I don’t think I was callous before becoming a parent, but now I can’t face such scenes with any dispassion.