Syriana is a flick that makes me question why the general movie-going public goes to movies. We go for fun right? If we want to be informed via watching something, we stay home and watch the news. If we want to be informed of business we watch CNBC, and if we want to be informed of politics, CSPAN is a good place to go. These two channels are not sources of fun, but boring information. So why would anyone want to make them into a movie?

The plot of Syriana is too complicated to summarize. From what I could remember/figure out, two companies are merging to form what will be o­ne of the richest and most powerful companies in the world. Then there is Prince Nasir Al-Subaai (Alexander Siddig) of Iran whose father is dying. When his father dies, Prince Nasir wants to keep the oil which Iran has and try to rebuild the country. This is not what the United States wants, so they send in CIA Agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) to kill Prince Nasir. Each character is loosely connected with each other although they don’t know it.

Writer/Director Stephen Gaghan adapted Robert Baer’s novel See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War o­n Terrorism into Syriana, and while Gaghan may be a gifted writer/director, he is in need of a very good editor. Syriana’s complex plot has way too much going o­n with too many characters. Between o­ne-third to o­ne-half of the characters are unnecessary, and the o­nes who are needed are barely developed. None of these people are likable at all and the audience is given no reason to care.

Even though the characters are underdeveloped, the performances are excellent. George Clooney should receive a Best Supporting Actor Nomination come Oscar time. He really got into the role of CIA Agent Barnes, gaining 35 pounds for the role. Clooney has later said that he regretted the weight gain as it led to a later spinal cord injury which required both surgery and Clooney being bedridden for a month.

Aside from the characters, the o­ne big problem with Syriana is that the film has a big ego. Syriana knows that with the current gas prices and war in Iraq, it has a chance to be an important film with a very relevant message. Sadly this message is so bogged down by a complicated plot that the viewer has to pay very close attention or all is lost, and when the viewer pays the required amount of attention, the payoff is very slim. All of the characters are so smart and speak in such jargon that the average viewer will have no clue what is going o­n, unless they are an avid CNBC viewer.

An added little annoyance that Syriana has is the lack of soundtrack. There is some background music in parts, but most of the film has none. The lack of background music o­nly rarely adds to a film, and it’s usually o­nly in horror films to build a mood. The lack of background music puts this film o­n the same level of having a headache and not being able to escape a really boring homework assignment. As soon as you finish, your headache will be much better, but until then you must endure the annoyance.

Syriana does its best to try to be important and relevant to today’s political climate, but ultimately the lack of clarity and a good editor makes this movie irrelevant. There is a message in the movie, and I think I understood enough of it to get the point, but there was way too much mental work to be done for this film to be enjoyable.

A movie’s primary duty is to entertain. If going to the movies wasn’t fun, then I’m sure most people wouldn’t go. Syriana simply wasn’t fun at all, but more than that, it seemed insulting at times. The film thought it was so smart and preached its message in such jargon that at times it made me feel stupid, or that I didn’t fit in with the cool oil crowd that the movie hung out with. Movies shouldn’t ostracize and insult their viewers, but instead entertain and enlighten.