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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, Additional Scenes, Featurettes, Theatrical Trailer, English, French, Spanish Subtitled
Big oil means big money. Very big money. And that fact unleashes corruption that stretches from Houston to Washington to the Mideast -- and ensnares industrialists, princes, spies, politicos, oilfield laborers and terrorists in a deadly, deceptive web of move and countermove.
George Clooney (Academy Award® and Golden Globe® winner as Best Supporting Actor), Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright lead a stellar cast in a lightning-paced, whip-smart thriller written and directed by Traffic Academy Award® winner Stephen Gaghan. From its very first scene, Syriana grips your mind and nerves with an intensity that doesn't let go for an instant. What is the price of oil? This "engrossing, insider's tour of the world's hottest spots, grandest schemes and most dangerous men" (Richard Corliss, Time) has a jolting answer.
"Two very big, enthusiastic thumbs up. One of the year's best films." Ebert & Roeper
"... The most thought-provoking, the most powerful, and simply the best movie I've seen this year." Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
"A serious, sizzling thriller." Thelma Adams, US Weekly
"Syriana is light-years from the standard Hollywood movie." Richard Corliss, Time Magazine
"This is an epic movie." David Denby, New Yorker
"****. Brilliant. It's not just hot, it's incendiary." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"Syriana is explosive, emotionally engagaing and intellectually stimulating..." Claudia Puig, USA Today
"One of the smartest and most ambitious political thrillers in years." Jack Matthews, New York Daily News
"Syriana has a lot of big, important things to say about big, important things..." Entertainment Weekly
"...densely packed with detail and convincingly told..." Premiere
"...delivered with breathtaking cinematic brilliance..." Uncut
Editor's Note
IN THEATERS NOVEMBER 23, 2005 Based on the true story of a CIA counter-terrorism agent (George Clooney) who witnesses the slow disintegration of the agency's power as it sinks under corruption.
| Features | Additional Scenes | | Make a Change, Make a Difference Featurette | | Conversation with George Clooney | | Widescreen Presentation | | Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
| | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 11/10/2009 |
| Running Time: 128 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 80772 | | UPC: 00012569807723 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.40:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Golden Globe (2006) | | | Alexandre Desplat, Nominee, Best Original Score - Motion Picture | |
Oscar (2006) |  | George Clooney, Winner, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role | |
British Academy Awards (2006) | | | George Clooney, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role | |
Golden Globe (2006) | | George Clooney , Winner, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | |
Oscar (2006) | | | Stephen Gaghan, Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen | |
Image Award (2006) | | | Syriana, Nominee, Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"SYRIANA has a lot of big, important things to say about big, important things, and its says them with a sense of urgency." 12/02/2005 p.56-57Rolling Stone
4 stars out of 4 -- "[T]his fighting-mad film isn't just hot, its' incendiary. And no one gets off the hook. You see it with the exhilarating feeling that a movie can make a difference." 12/01/2005 p.136 Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "[D]ensely packed with detail and convincingly told." 12/01/2005 p.56 New York Times
"[A] movie that demands and rewards close attention....[O]ne of the best geopolitical thrillers in a very long time." 11/23/2005 p.E1 Uncut
5 stars out of 5 -- "[D]elivered with breathtaking cinematic brilliance....[Clooney], all hang-dog stares and brow-beaten demeanour, gives the performance of his career." 04/01/2006 p.132 Sight and Sound
"Outwardly, the picture projects an impression of fragmentation and instability to reflect the turmoil of the world it is investigating." 04/01/2006 p.70 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "SYRIANA is brain-achingly complex yet still deeply, deeply human." 08/01/2006 p.102 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "It's a Hollywood thriller with a moral conscience, and one that might just inspire a pang of guilt next time you're at the petrol pump." 08/01/2006 p.82 Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
The movie has a lot of important roles, and uses recognizable actors to help us keep everything straight. Even then, the studio e-mailed critics a helpful guide to the characters. I didn't look at it. Didn't want to. I liked the way I experienced the film: I couldn't explain the story, but I never felt lost in it. I understood who, what, when, where and why, but not how they connected. That was how I wanted to relate to it. It created sympathy for individual characters in their specific situations without dictating what I was supposed to think about the big picture. - Roger Ebert
Variety.com 9 of 10
Those complaining that Hollywood never turns out films of topical or political substance are likely to embrace "Syriana," 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" to create a revealing portrait of diverse forces contributing to global tension, particularly concerning the Middle East. Terse, understated and sometimes confusing, this is the rare film that could actually benefit from being significantly longer. - Todd McCarthy
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3.5
