[HIJACK]Well, he was really good in A History of Violence.[/HIJACK]
I saw it on Monday. Really enjoyed it.
Found it to be very cynical too DtC.
I feel I need to see it again to really understand everything in it as well as I want.
I will say the speech Tim Blake Nelson gives defending corruption blew me away.
It was based on a book by a former CIA operative (who I think Clooney’s character was loosely based on), and a lot of it is allegedly based on his real experiences.
I opened this thread assuming someone would have already asked this question, so I’m assuming I’m just really stupid for not getting it:
What exactly was Clooney’s character trying to accomplish at the end?
He wanted to save the Emir’s life
I’m skipping the spoiler box assuming anyone reading this thread has seen the movie. If not, stop reading…
That’s what I thought, but why didn’t he tell the emir to get the hell out of the SUV? And how did Clooney know when and where the emir and the hit would be? Wasn’t his original mission (not the openning mission, but the fingernail mission) to kill that brother? How/what would posses him to protect the emir now?
I felt that the film lost its focus in the middle-third, especially during the trip to Beirut. That was the point where I began to ask “What does this have to do with anything?” (yes, he asked his acquaintance to do some wet work on the oil prince, but did that really necessitate a trip to Beirut?)
All-in-all, a fine film, if more than a bit muddled. I don’t think it had anything really profound or new to say, and even the statistics quoted were just dated (data about American production/consumption viz the rest of the world were from the 1970s) or just flat out made up (“90% of all oil is in the Middle East - and it’s running out!”) I like the fact that the two stars never met, except on the peripheries of their character’s lives.
[spoiler]1. He was going to, he didn’t realize how little time he had.
I don’t recall. But he is Secret Agent Man. 
His mission was to arrange the killing of the brother, yes, but not to do it himself. It might have been also hoped for (or arranged) by the CIA that Clooney would be killed by Mussawi.
He felt betrayed after receiving the smack-down from Mussawi in Beirut and was going to thwart the assassination attempt as his revenge. The answer to #2 obviously lies within this time frame - perhaps he muscled it out of the old guy?[/spoiler]
Sampiro:
[spoiler]1- What exactly did Dalton do regarding the French school and money? (This may have been explained while I was on my own bladder break.)
*It’s kind of complicated, but here goes:
You have two companies - K and C. C is a small company, K is a much larger company. K lost its oil concession (granted by the government of whatever country the oil field lies in) to C. IIRC, C got the concession by bribing the elder Prince $75million by funnelling money through this French school that was owned/controlled by the Prince. Because of this reversal of fortune, C was able to buy out K. *
2- Did Bennett’s father sell information he found in his son’s house?
*I didn’t catch that. *
Who exactly was the man who convinced the Pakistanis to become human sacrifices?
A terrorist recruiter[/spoiler]
Thanks. Somehow I missed exactly who was being bribed for what.
So do you think that Clooney/Bob was bluffing when he told Dean/Plummer that “your wife and son will disappear if anything happens to me” or did he still have friends in low places who had his back? If so, I wonder if Dean’s wife and son will be killed.
I’m pretty sure
That if Clooney actually had a backup, we would’ve seen him writing a letter or sending an email to them, something to indicate that he was communicating his instructions.
There is also some underlying plot about “Fathers and Sons”:
The Lawyer and his Father
Damon and his son
Clooney and his son
The Old Emir and his sons
I thought Clooney was suppose to arrange to kill the older son of the emir not the currupt younger one.
Yes, I know. I’ve seen an few interviews with the former CIA guy.
Just saw it yesterday.
The method of assassination seemed illogical. Apparently, only those within 20 feet radius of the missile died. Wouldn’t the surviving entourage report that a missile from above destroyed the Prince’s car? How long would it take to figure out whose missile it was? Which country could have such a capability? Is it Chad … or Singapore … or Fiji???
Yes, according to WarnerBros.com | Syriana | Movies
That’s why Clooney tries to save him at the end.
That site has GREAT info.
I’m still lost on why the U.S. wanted Nassir dead, and how Clooney found out that he should save the prince.
The US wanted Nassir dead because he gave the oil contract to the Chinese firm instead of the American one, and they figured he would be an antagonist if he became Emir. What they didn’t realize was that he gave the Chinese firm the contract not because he was corrupt, but because they had simply put in the highest bid. Nassir wanted to build a capitalist democracy after all. Thus the irony is that the US sides with the corrupt brother, who is friendly to the US but will maintain an oppressive theocracy which breeds terrorists that blow up American ships. If they had had all the information, they probably would have supported Nassir’s coup, since a free-market democracy would ultimately be better for US interests in the region.
And when Damon threatens Dean (Christopher Plummer), he threatens to kill his son.
I don’t think it was irony or a mistake by the US. I believe it was intentional by the filmmaker to show that the US may talk the talk about bringing ‘peace, love and democracy’ to the ME, but ultimately all the US cares about is oil. I think the US deliberately targeted the “good” son because “bad” son would sell us cheap oil.
Forgive what may be a dumb question:
How did Matt Damon’s older son die? By electrocution in the swimming pool? Or did he hit his head? If the former, did it have any connection to the young men playing around the buzzing electrical structure?
(I saw it a week ago, so I may already be fuzzy on these details.)
Electrocution, as I recall