Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
seraphael-60235
Excellent movie that offers a realistic look into the world of corporate tactics and behavioral manipulation of the masses. It would seem that the focus was to engage the viewers with the hopes of opening eyes and taking the blinders off. This movie isn't a cheesy film with fight scenes, sex, or cheap thrills but instead offers depth. I can only guess that many of these reviews are from fracking organizations to keep this movie from getting the attention it deserves.
Nick Holland
Promised Land is directed by Gus Van Sant, written by Matt Damon, and stars Matt Damon. The story is about a worker for the natural gas fracking company, "Global," and his attempts to try and persuade a small, poor, farming town to buy into this fracking technology. He is conflicted in his endeavors by an environmentalist, a local school teacher, and his feeling for a local woman. This was originally going to be Matt Damon's directorial debut, but he ended up giving the job to Van Sant, due to them working together in the ever so successful movie, Good Will Hunting. This film has ups and downs, but is altogether pretty good.To start with the positives, the directing is very nice. Gus Van Sant did very well, yet again, and made the movie look very clean. Although there were no scenes of "action," suspenseful scenes were filmed well, with minimal cuts and some nice, wide shots. The cinematography was also very good. Some of the wide takes of the farmland look truly beautiful. A lot of far off camera angles of Damon's car driving on backroads look very nice, and gives off the simplistic tone to the small town.The other main positive is the acting. Matt Damon, as always, does well. His co stars, John Krasinski, and Frances McDormand do really well also. The combination of the actors really adds a lot to the film. However, there are quite a few negatives. It's not a bad movie, but it isn't exactly great.The biggest negative is the love triangle that happens in the movie. This may be a spoiler for some, so spoiler alert. Damon's character, Steve, takes interest in a character named Alice. They both seem to have good chemistry, and get along well, but Alice all of a sudden jumps to another character's side, and takes interest in him. She then finds out a certain thing, and immediately flips back to Steve's side. This confused the heck out of me. Yes, some people can change their mind, but so quickly, and without reason? It really dragged the film down.The other main problem is the plot. The plot can keep up, but I only counted a few moments in which I actually cared. There was even a point where I was questioning is Steve was the good guy. Many, many things confused me, and I'm not easily confused. The plot dragged on at spots, and I got somewhat bored. I watched the whole thing, and the story would always pick back up, but only after a certain while.Overall, Promised Land was a decent movie. I'll probably watch it again every once in awhile, but it's really not great. I think Promised Land deserves a B-, or a 7 out of 10.
SimonJack
"Promised Land" is a movie for the present time in America. Natural gas, oil shale, oil and related explorations are becoming more common. The world's consumption of oil continues to leapfrog, as more and more one- time third world countries acquire some affluence. Energy prices continue to work their way up. Sources of natural energy that once were far too expensive to produce, now become economical. At the same times, many small farm communities continue to shrink, and most become poorer with few jobs and businesses to support the dwindling farm populations. Into this setting, "Promised Land" gives us a story of two employees who move into a rural community to buy up the leases for natural gas exploration and possible production. It's a story about people doing their job in earnest, and about the people of a small town. The town is in rural Pennsylvania, but it could be anywhere in rural America. – as Matt Damon's character, Steve Butler says. And, the people of this community must weigh the promise of prosperity against unknown possible negative effects on their natural surroundings from drilling. There is an interesting twist in this story that comes out at the end. The cast are all quite good. Besides Damon, Frances McDormand co-stars as his sidekick employee, Sue Thompson. John Krasinski is very smooth and believable as Dustin Noble. Rosemarie DeWitt plays Alice, the fifth- grade school teacher. Titus Welliver is Rob, the local guns and grocery story owner. Hal Holbrook, at 88 years of age, is the retired MIT scientist and volunteer high school teacher, Frank Yates. And, the many town folk who are extras add nicely to this story. The scenic shots are something right out of Norman Rockwell's pastoral America. Damon and Krasinski wrote the screenplay for this film. They also co-produced it with director Gus Van Sant. The film moves at a steady pace that may be too slow for some people. Those who need the fast and furious frenzy of constant-action movies to get their adrenalin flowing are not likely to enjoy this film. But, for the rest of us, it's a nice story that the whole family can enjoy.
g-bodyl
On first look, Promised Land seems to be an environmental film that has some sort of agenda. But if you dig deeper, it's more than that. It bring to light the issues of fracking and how American small towns are living in the past(which is a very good thing.) That being said, this is a good film that has a rather straightforward narrative, great acting, a solid script, and even a few unexpected twists and turns.Gus Van Sant, who reunites with Matt Damon, directs a film about two corporate people whom are employees of Global. They travel to a small, but economically struggling Pennsylvania town where they attempt to buy drilling rights from the citizens.The acting is the highlight of the film. This can be characterized as a character study mainly on Matt Damon's character, Steve Butler. We see what changes Butler goes through during the film and how it changes the kind of person he is. Damon himself is a very good actor and he does well here. Frances McDormand is also really good as Damon's partner. John Krasinski, who co-wrote the script, is wonderful as Damon's rival.Overall, Promised Land turns out to be a good movie. It's not entertaining as it could have been, but it brings across some serious environmental issues. Story-wise, I felt like this film could have used more romance between Damon and Rosemarie DeWitt's character, since the one we got felt off. But other than that, this happens to be a solid film. I rate this film 8/10.
