Syriana is an American movie that reaches out beyond itself. Watching it made me feel hopeful -- a rare sensation in a cinema.

| Jan 17, 2018

... If you can avoid getting too hung up on the details, Syriana is a brave attempt to blitz the goody-baddy dynamics of cold-war film-making and concentrate on the ambiguities of modern geopolitics.

| Sep 26, 2017

This is intelligent, committed, and politically provocative, though its narrative puzzle box may prompt you to throw up your hands and let ExxonMobil go on running the world.

| Mar 30, 2009

Its dark, dog-eat-dog vision of the world we live in may give you geopolitical nightmares.

| Nov 1, 2007

It's entirely possible that Gaghan just isn't an actor's director.

| Oct 7, 2006

The disorientation is purely cosmetic.

| Sep 28, 2006

Demanding, even confusing at times, this is required viewing that requires your full attention.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2006

There is a weird absence of both dramatic heat and political light here.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 4, 2006

You'll come away exhausted, but also exhilarated.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2006

Syriana is a terrific movie, sprawling in its story, chilling in its implications, but you may need a whiteboard and marker to follow it.

| Feb 17, 2006

Syriana impresses, not because it is very moving, which it isn't, or because it is crystal clear, which it also isn't, but because it is so large, so encompassing, so seemingly privy to inside stuff.

Full Review | Jan 3, 2006

If you want a movie that answers all your questions, try "Revenge of the Sith." If you want a movie that questions all your answers, try this one.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 2, 2006

Didactic and muddled to the point of incoherence.

| Original Score: C | Dec 30, 2005

Syriana is so powerful, so audacious in its commentary the fact some of it doesn't snap together or that a few of the layers are left hanging doesn't end up mattering anywhere near as much as it should.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 13, 2005

The stories are all densely packed with detail and convincingly told.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 13, 2005

One of the most exciting movies of the year.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 11, 2005

Watch closely and listen carefully during Syriana because Stephen Gaghan's movie is that rarity: a thinking person's drama.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 9, 2005

It's hard to get passionately swept away by a movie when you're struggling continually to figure out who's doing what to whom and why.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 9, 2005

Syriana is an ambitious edifice, built with conviction and skill. But I'm not sure I understand it, and I'm not sure I care.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 9, 2005

A purposely jagged and harsh news story of a film, Syriana attempts to take on the powers that run the world and for the most part it succeeds.

| Original Score: A- | Dec 9, 2005