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100
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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
An endlessly fascinating movie.
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100
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Takes off with the lightning speed of a thriller, the gonzo force of frontline journalism and the emotional wallop of a drama that puts a human face on shocking statistics.
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90
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Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A fearless and ambitious piece of work, made with equal parts passion and calculation, an unapologetically entertaining major studio release with compelling real-world relevance, a film that takes numerous risks and thrives on them all.
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90
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Washington Post Desson Thomson
What's so powerful about the film is the rich stories it tells and how it leads them like so many human tributaries to one black, bubbling source.
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88
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USA Today Claudia Puig
A gripping and fascinating tale of political intrigue that spans three continents, its focus trained on the volatile Middle East. It's a global portrait of danger, deception and disillusionment, with no dearth of human casualties.
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80
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The New York Times Dana Stevens
It aims to be a great deal more than a standard geopolitical thriller and thereby succeeds in being one of the best geopolitical thrillers in a very long time.
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75
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Boston Globe Wesley Morris
In its seriousness, Syriana has an absorbing, ominous roundness that plays even better with a second viewing.
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70
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Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The film itself operates on shifting sands. Shot documentary-style, by Robert Elswit, and accompanied by a pounding soundtrack, Syriana makes high-octane melodrama look like revealed truth.
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67
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Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Indeed, the point of Syriana appears to be that the whole lousy, corrupt, oil-producing and -consuming world is a ball of wax, ready to melt.
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50
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San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
It's hard to get swept away when you're struggling to figure out who's doing what to whom and why.
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