WOW you might not like it as much as BYOB, but it is definitely about Big Oil in the Mideast and all the politics and schemery surrounding it. Interweaves the various people affected by a huge deal, from MidEastern oil workers who get very coldly layed off, have zero hope for the future so are ripe for the picking by the Bin Dipstick crowd to Matt Damon the stock broker energy analyst to Clooney and his family to the Capitol Hill demons and their Big Oil bosses in the scheming board room.
Like a lot of Clooney-Damon movies, the set up and subplots are great, but they either fail to bring it all together, or bring it mostly together but leave too many loose ends. Or have a depressing ending, which this one does. Need someone who read the book to narrate. jw-gaither where are you? Joe tell her to come back to the board, if for nothing else movie reviews. Back to the movie, points for reality tho. But most of us get enough of that from real life, don't need a movie for more.
Superb camera work, audio work. Exception being at two or three key points when CIA operative (George Clooney) asks for straight answers from William Hurt whom (as the story developes) the only gov't person he can get a semi straight answer from. This only because Hurt is ex CIA turned private sector. Even then Hurt has to carefully weigh his own words so as not to be off'd by the CIA. Anywho the voice exchange between Clooney and Hurt, vital to the storyline, is so blasted quitet you may not even be able to hear it. Otherwise its fine, in fact otherwise the various audio usages are fantastic.
Film location?? I dont know where but some very realistic looking Mideast setting. Maybe Palm Springs East desert area. Unless it was shot on location in some MidEast places. Wow.
Those few audio lowerings I think its scheme to get you to see it twice. Don't.
