Stephen Gaghan's - Syriana - starring George Clooney Matt Damon DVD Review

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'See No Evil')

Directed by Stephen Gaghan
USA 2005

I'm afraid I am not having the best time with the latest batch of Hollywood films that I have been sent on DVD. Advertised as 'From the Academy Award Winning filmmakers of Traffic' - my response, when watching Syriana, was - 'yeah, no kidding'. Same convoluted plot with multiple streams that intersect at the finale. Same cropped headshots (for realism?), same occasional lens tinting, same, same... There really is a void for 'filmmaking' in Hollywood right now. It seems they found wonderful success with 'Traffic' and it bared repeating... to a 'T'. Hey why take a chance?

Everything is quite adept in the production. I was surprised that Clooney won best supporting actor, but so goes the politics of U.S.-centric cinema. I'll backtrack again - it wasn't so bad at all, but I was just agog at the ad nauseum revolving-door riffs repeated in this production in comparison to 'Traffic' - a generally creative effort that was just not my cup of tea. Perhaps this is my stigma against Syriana, I'm unsure. I did enjoy every scene with Chris Cooper (see Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations - coincidentally a perfect example of how to take a new storytelling spin on an old idea). In a kind of preachy ideal we are exposed to how big business manipulates the petrol industry. It is not particularly surprising but did hold a grain of interest, and some truth I'm sure. And so we are educated... time for a latte - let's take the SUV.

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Theatrical Release: November 23rd, 2005

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DVD Review: Warner - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:07:32
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.52 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Deleted scenes • Featurette: Make a Change, Make a Difference • Conversation with George Clooney DVD Release Date: June 20th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 33

Comments:

Very strong image from Warner. Contrast, colors look very akin to how the film would have appeared theatrically. Relevant extras - great subtitles (NOTE: When non-English dialogue is spoken the English translation is non-removable, but is not repeated when English is chosen as a subtitle option). We'll assume the framing (lots of chopped heads) is accurate and intentional. The 5.1 audio sounded very dynamic to me. Warner are churning out great work here on digital versatile disc. If you didn't see this in the cinema this is your best bet. For those very keen then the extras probably don't warrant the purchase, but for repeat viewing it certainly does.