Synopsis
The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.
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Cast
- George ClooneyBob Barnes
- Matt DamonBryan Woodman
- Jeffrey WrightBennett Holiday
- Chris CooperJimmy Pope
- Amanda PeetJulie Woodman
- William HurtStan
- Christopher PlummerDean Whiting
- Alexander SiddigPrince Nasir Al-Subaai
- Kayvan NovakArash
- Amr WakedMohammed Sheik Agiza
Recommendations
- 100
Rolling Stone
Takes off with the lightning speed of a thriller, the gonzo force of frontline journalism and the emotional wallop of a drama that puts a human face on shocking statistics. - 90
New York Magazine (Vulture)
A film that transcends its obvious timeliness to say some elemental things about personal loyalty and institutional betrayal. - 90
Los Angeles Times
A fearless and ambitious piece of work, made with equal parts passion and calculation, an unapologetically entertaining major studio release with compelling real-world relevance, a film that takes numerous risks and thrives on them all. - 88
ReelViews
In today's environment, it's a rare thing to find a movie with interesting characters in dense, intelligent storylines, but that's what Syriana offers. It is one of the best films of 2005. - 80
Variety
A weighty and deeply intriguing look at the many-tentacled beast that is the international oil industry. Wide-ranging and restlessly probing, Stephen Gaghan's second directorial effort uses the same mosaic storytelling technique as in his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Traffic." - 80
Newsweek
This is a movie that sticks its political neck out, that throbs with dread, paranoia and outrage, that doesn't coddle the audience by neatly tying things up. - 80
Time
Not a conventionally satisfying movie but a kind of illustrated journalism: an engrossing, insider's tour of the world's hottest spots, grandest schemes and most dangerous men. - 80
Village Voice
Given the large cast, the international hopscotch, and the tantalizing illusion of depth, the movie's tone is "Frontline" meets John le Carré. Compared to the complacence of something like "The Interpreter," it's a regular brain tickler.
