- Film Review
- Reviewed By Adam Smith
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4 out of 5
Using the same multi-stranded technique as he did for his Oscar-winning screenplay of the drugs drama Traffic, writer/director Stephen Gaghan here weaves the threads of small, apparently barely linked narratives into a giant tapestry, revealing the global oil industry in all its hideous, venal and corrupt glory. The story is so labyrinthine that an adequate description is impossible (and indeed its deliberate complexity will be an irritant to some), but individual plot elements include George Clooney as a worn-out CIA agent involved in arms dealing and assassinations, Matt Damon as a grief-stricken energy analyst and Christopher Plummer as the head of a powerful Washington law firm. These seemingly disparate tales move at a relentless pace and, as a result, the whole picture is sometimes difficult to grasp - again deliberately so. Gaghan's technique is not to convince you that you're following a single set of characters involved in a coherent story, but rather to give you the jittery, exhilarating feeling that you're eavesdropping on conversations you were never meant to hear. It's an approach that makes this a compelling, richly detailed and, in the end, terrifying experience.
Plot Summary
Multi-stranded political thriller about the international oil industry starring George Clooney and Matt Damon. Against a background of oil-company wheeler-dealing, a jaded CIA field agent begins to question his purpose when he's ordered to assassinate the heir to an oil-rich Middle East country.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Bob Barnes
- George Clooney
- Bryan Woodman
- Matt Damon
- Bennett Holiday
- Jeffrey Wright
- Jimmy Pope
- Chris Cooper
- Stan Goff
- William Hurt
- Wasim Ahmed Khan
- Mazhar Munir
- Danny Dalton
- Tim Blake Nelson
- Julie Woodman
- Amanda Peet
- Dean Whiting
- Christopher Plummer
- Prince Nasir Al-Subaai
- Alexander Siddig
- Sydney Hewitt
- Nicky Henson
- Robby Barnes
- Max Minghella
- Fred Franks
- Thomas McCarthy
- Marilyn Richards
- Viola Davis
- Bennett Holiday Sr
- William Charles Mitchell
- Prince Meshal Al-Subaai
- Akbar Kurtha
- Emir Hamad Al-Subaai
- Nadim Sawalha
- Mussawi
- Mark Strong
Crew
- Director
- Stephen Gaghan
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