Promised Land

source: Promised Land

Promised Land (2012) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Director Gus Van Sant is visited from the ghost of Frank Capra in this morality tale that mixes politics, family values and greed. Natural gas salesmen Steve (Matt Damon) and Sue (Frances McDormand) head out to a small town to try and make the people vote for allowing them to drill for gas. They spread around whatever "truths" they must to secure the vote but soon the small town life starts to effect Steve. PROMISED LAND isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it's extremely well-made, features some great acting and it really is a fun movie to sit through. There are problems including the ending, which I won't ruin for those who haven't seen the movie but I think this complicated story and issues gets solved way too easily. With that said, Van Sant was the perfect person to handle this material because in someone else's hands you're probably looking at an over-sentimental picture that is too preachy. Instead, Van Sant really paints a great picture of small town life and I thought the screenplay allowed each character to fully grow. This includes obviously the Damon character but several other smaller ones including a terrific bit by Hal Holbrook who plays a local school teacher. The material is extremely well-written and for the most part the message is always there but it's never just beating the viewer over the head. Damon turns in some of his best work in years as he's completely believable in the role of this salesman who starts to have second thoughts. I thought the actor delivered a very strong and emotional performance that really paid off. Holbrook is simply divine in his small role and McDormand is also very good in her supporting bit. Rosemarie DeWitt also adds another winning performance to her resume. PROMISED LAND, I think, could have ended a bit better but there's still something that bring it all together. The film is fairly predictable but with such strong direction and a great cast it's still very much worth seeing.

I enjoy Matt Damon and was excited to see this movie, until I made it to the part where the "environmentalists" stepped in; then I knew exactly where this movie was going. Then the BIG surprise ending where you found out that Dustin really worked for Global?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! These movies and other false propaganda is the reason why we have people against hydraulic fracing (There's no K btw), even though most of those people do not even know what it is. The classroom scene was a perfect example of how environmentalists lie to the people for their own benefit. Go here if you want to learn about hydraulic fracturing, there is no party affiliation or any bias tied to this site, just a Petrophysics Professor who teaches a fracing class for engineers: http://www.spec2000.net/10-closurestress.htm All in all, I did not like this movie, because of its clear purpose. This is not a movie for entertainment, its a movie with an agenda to misguide the American people down the wrong path.

***SPOILER*** This movie so bad, that I suspect that the assertion that it was financed by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emerates, is false. Anything that so blatantly satirizes and trivializes anti-fracking arguments as does "Promised Land" must have been financed by the fracking industry. There are compelling and persuasive arguments for and against fracking. Energy production and energy conservation are not risk-free endeavors. There are always trade-offs to be evaluated and weighed regardless of how energy is produced or conserved. An honest, if truncated, evaluation of fracking could have been possible within the confines of a standard length Hollywood movie. Instead we got this nonsense that trivializes a critical issue in today's society.