"Syriana"

I'm taking a long weekend this Labor Day holiday, so I went and rented "Syriana" at the local Blockbuster.

Not bad. A bit dense in spots, with a number of different story threads all winding around each other, but none of them were particularly hard to follow. The characters were all very simply defined, and in a way just a bit predictable, if not a completely stereotypical, and they were all set in motion to collide with each other like all those little spinning tops in that cheesy plastic kid's game from the 70's (as seen on TV!).

Overall, it's a very cynical (and probably more than a little accurate) portrayal of the various bits and pieces that make up the oil-soaked, money-driven insanity of the middle-east. It digs a layer beneath the usual impression you would get from the evening news, and puts faces and motives on the various "powers" that be. Humanizes it a little.

However, even though the movie clocks in at just over 2 hours, it feels like it rushed to get you to the conclusion. You're left wishing you had more time to become attached to the characters and explore what they're up to at a deeper level. There are hints and details enough to let you fill in those blanks for yourself if you really want, but it would have been nice to explore it further in some sort of mini-series format, like HBO does so well.

Otherwise, it was worth the rental, though I didn't get attached enough to want to add it to my collection.

Tonight, the other disc from my Blockbuster trip, "V for Vendetta"...