Promised Land Reviews

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Great Film! Here's a good little movie. Interesting story, extremely well written, directed and acted. Helicopter shots add to the beautiful location cinematography. Great use of music, some original. This movie is not about the environmental devastation caused by fracking. It's about the predatory practices used by industry to gain access to our backyards and how communities loose their way in gasland and are torn apart. Go see it, very good!!!

Corporate salesman Steve Butler (Damon) arrives in a rural town with his sales partner, Sue Thomason (McDormand). With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (Krasinski) who counters Steve both personally and professionally.

excellent tackling of an interesting topic in a narrative format. i was already interested in the issues surrounding fracking leading into this film. ive read on it and seen documentaries. i was a tad disappointed that the film took a stance as by all accounts this issue is not at all cut and dry, but agendas are a part of film making and overall the agenda didnt remove my enjoyment of the film. good film making and story telling, and solid performances from the excellent cast.

Actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski co-wrote Promised Land, which has been labeled as the anti-fracking movie. I wish. While it does take a suspicious view of the practice of extracting natural gas via high-powered underground water jets laced with chemicals, the movie feels too timid to really land home its points, settling on a familiar narrative of the redemption of one man working for The Man. The character development feels like it happens overnight rather than through a gradual process. Damon begins as a corporate raider, a guy selling false hope to the economic downtrodden, and ends up an altruistic environmental fighter. I mostly found him to be a pompous jerk. The scenes with Damon squaring off against Krasinski, an environmental activist, are easily the best, giving the movie a bristling energy it otherwise lacks. Krasinski provides a fine foil and some snappy competition until a late preposterous plot turn muddies everything up. I feel like the writers, as well as director Gus Van Sant, wanted to lure in wary moviegoers with something more broadly appealing (the evolution of one man) versus a more alarmist, message-heavy movie. That's fine, but at least give me a better story. Promised Land even falls into the trap of having he Damon/Krasinski competition come down to a woman (Rosemarie DeWitt) they both fancy. Because otherwise it wouldn't feel serious, right? It's a solidly acted movie, with some nice turns by veterans like Frances McDormand and Titus Welliver (TV's Lost), but the movie just doesn't live up to the promise of its potential.

Nate's Grade: B-

Steve (Damon) is a rep for Global Crosspower Solutions, an energy company who specialize in extracting natural gas through the controversial practice of "fracking". Hailing from a small rural town in Iowa has given him an edge in winning over the residents of such communities. For this reason, he is dispatched to a farming town in rural Pennsylvania with the task of buying the right to frack on the locals' land. There he comes up against local teacher Frank (Holbrook), who raises concerns over the methods used by Global. When a member of an activist group arrives in town and begins to turn the residents against Global, it seems Steve is facing his toughest battle yet.
If you miss the credits of 'Promised Land', you may think it's the latest work of Cameron Crowe or Jason Reitman. Both those directors seem to be building their careers around the 'Local Hero' idea of soulless corporate men finding themselves with the help of simple everyday folk. The credits reveal this instead to be the work of Gus Van Sant but they also contain a disturbing revelation; the funding for the film came courtesy of Abu Dhabi. This may be a tirade against natural gas drilling but let's not kid ourselves, it's equally a propaganda piece for the oil industry. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" would seem to be Van Sant's justification but it leaves a nasty, oily, taste in the mouth.
It's testament to Damon's affability that, despite the dubious nature of his character, we find ourselves rooting for him to succeed. This is the film's major problem though as this clearly isn't the intention of the film-makers. The script, penned by actors Damon and Krasinski, is riddled with issues. There's a romantic subplot that comes across as far more superficial than you're meant to believe. The seeds of numerous other subplots involving the small-town folks are sown but never come to fruition. Worst of all is a final act plot twist that comes across as ludicrous. There's always something annoying about millionaire Hollywood types telling us commoners that some things are more important than money and that's exactly what you get here.
In spite of all these grievances, I have to confess I enjoyed 'Promised Land'. Even though it wasn't Damon's intention, I found myself charmed by his character.

In "Promised Land," David Churchill(Terry Kinney) is considering Steve Butler(Matt Damon, who also co-wrote the script) for an executive promotion but first needs to know something: how he and his partner Sue Thomason(Frances McDormand) are so good at signing up rural towns for natural gas drilling. For Steve, it simply comes down to coming from a small town in Iowa not unlike those he visits, including the latest in Pennsylvania where he gets off to a fast start by getting Drew Scott(Tim Guinee) to sign on the dotted line, even low-balling him. Town Supervisor Richards(Ken Strunk) is not so gullible but Steve is still able to handle him with ease. Not so much Frank Yates(Hal Holbrook), a local teacher, who has the answers and is up for the challenge. Enter Dustin Noble(John Krasinski, who co-wrote the script).

For almost all of its length, "Promised Land" manages to balance its critique of the natural gas industry, how it manages to leverage impoversished communities for profit and in particularly the invidious practice of hydrofracking with a more personal story. It also helps that both sides of the debate are represented. In playing a heel who ironically has disdain for small town people(compared to his partner who sees it as just another job whlle up against a true believer), Damon excels and McDormand is almost as good, even singing at one point, though not at all well. And then at the eleventh hour, there is a plot twist, while not entirely unexpected or unbelievable, still manages to turn what had been a reasonable discussion into something much more pedantic, followed by The Speech. As the guy says, you should have just gotten into the car.

Promised Land is interesting. It kept my interest. I wanted to see how it played out, I felt satisfied when it was over. And in a few weeks I'll probably forget I ever saw it. But that night, in that theater, it wasn't bad.

PROMISED LAND, a writing collaboration between Matt Damon and John Krasinski (THE OFFICE) based on a story by Dave Eggers, was to be the directorial debut for Damon, until he found himself too exhausted to carry it out when pre-production rolled around. Instead, he contacted his old pal, Gus Van Sant, who stepped in as a work-for-hire. It shows.

A well-intentioned, nicely acted yet somewhat preachy and vanilla film (Yep, I'm gonna go for the easy pun here and call it PROMISED BLAND), it feels relevant to our economically troubled times without ever achieving a good dramatic boil. Enter Damon and Frances McDormand, two corporate closers shipped into a small farming community to buy out the land. Frakking's on their mind, wherein their company will drill for oil in an ecologically questionable fashion. Everyone seems to be excited about the financial prospects of the deal, until Hal Holbrook challenges our dynamic duo, further bolstered by a young and mysterious environmentalist (Krasinski) who tries to galvanize the townfolk in the opposite direction.

It's a lightly comedic, yet fairly passionate look at the dilemma so many honest workers face in this country right now. Do they hang onto their pride of working the land handed down to them for generations, or do they see the writing on the wall and sell out? I truly enjoyed watching Damon struggle with his conscience while McDormand remains steadfast in declaring that she's just punching a clock to do her job. Damon has one electrifying scene when he faces off against a group of farmers, and his speech resonated with me long after the film ended. He also nicely underplays the big "11th Hour" moment. As his career progresses, he's become a wonderful character actor. All told, it's a fairly astute snapshot our economic condition.

Van Sant tries his best to put his stamp on the proceedings, with unexpected music choices (no obvious country music pandering) and his usual lovely driving shots, but most of the scenes consist of quiet conversations in hazily-lit farmhouses. There's a low-key heartland vibe to everything. It's the HOOSIERS of Issue-driven films.

The main conflict resides between Damon and Krasinski, and their sparring never reaches any great dramatic heights. It feels like two frat boys telling "Yo' Mamma" jokes over a few beers, instead of the high stakes at play. Their performances aren't bad, in fact, Damon is immensely appealing and highly skilled at making you somehow root for his corporate wonk. Holbrook is solid, much in the same way he was in INTO THE WILD, capping off a great career with his gentle wisdom. A nice surprise is Titus Welliver, typically cast in villain roles, as McDormand's romantic interest. It's a small but memorable role of a storekeeper, but it unfortunately never really goes anywhere. Lucas Black (the little kid from SLING BLADE all grown up), could have dialed back the cornpone a tad. He's straight out of HEE HAW. McDormand, however, runs away with the picture in a performance that never once hits a false note. In fact, has she ever in her entire career? This woman cannot help but open up a can of "REAL" on any film she touches.

Linus Sandgren, a Swedish cinematographer fairly new to American cinema, brings a nice, real touch, especially in a rainsoaked, poorly-planned town fair. He and Production Designer Daniel B. Clancy never condescend in their choices, giving us a Midwest that actually feels like the Midwest. I'm sure Van Sant misses the great D.P., Harris Savides, who sadly passed away in October, and was his frequent collaborator, but Sandgren certainly establishes himself as one to watch, despite the limited opportunities for an original artistic achievement here.

Staying true to its Midwest aesthetic, PROMISED LAND exposes some dark truths about this country yet often pulls its punches. Instead of a hard-hitting film, we're given a light slap. It's a good, not great, film that's as workmanlike as its subject matter.

"Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin', and the poor boy's on the line!" Oh man, I am so old, but hey, not even my taste in music is close to as old as Hal Holbrook, yet that's not going to stop him from working until he, I don't know, gets a haircut and loses his power, which just has to be growing with each passing year in which Holbrook sustains the same hairdo he's always had (87 years old, and that do is still lookin' good; nice work, Hal), and appears to be stored in Holbrook's ears. I know ages comes with ear expansion, but seriously, I kept waiting for Holbrook to challenge John Krasinski to an air race, even though Krasinski was sure to win, seeing as how he's got those kind of gliding ears. Speaking of Dumbo, John Krasinski's a decent-looking dude and all, but he looks a little bit like a cartoon, so I guess that means that Emily Blunt really is perfect for him, which is probably why Krasinski's in this film keeping an eye on Matt Damon, Blunt's co-star in last year's "The Adjustment Bureau" (Shoot, even I'm impressed to see that I remembered that film), because he doesn't want to run the risk of having good ol' Will Hunting go back to his days of "hunting" out the English ladies. Shoot, Krainski is hanging out with Damon so much that he's gone so far as to co-write this film's screenplay, so if anyone's relationship is threatened here, it's Ben Affleck's relationship with Damon, and it doesn't really help that this film is directed by Gus Van Sant, the very guy who helped give Affleck and Damon their big break. That's right, folks, the Damon-Van Sant dream team is back together, only without Chuckie Sullivan, which is a shame, because you should never have to choose between your kids, though, if you ask me, if Van Sant is to stick with any young star from his "Good Will Hunting" days, it is, well, probably Ben Affleck, because while he's off making "Argo", Damon is the one who's making the improvable decisions. No, people, this film is decent, but really, this film doesn't quite deliver on the goods that its concept - yes, I'm gonna say it... here it comes... get ready... - "proposed" (Ha!), though certainly delivers on some flaws.

The film entertains just fine, and such entertainment value really helps in getting the final product by, yet after a while, as with plenty of other Gus Van Sant films, all of that fun dies down a bit, never to slip into dullness, but nevertheless dip just enough in kick to bland things up a bit and somewhat distance investment. At the very least, this film's slow spells get to be bland enough to simply distance engagement value, leaving the film to, at least for a moment, find itself unable to fully sustain your attention, and it doesn't help that this film's story structure sometimes finds itself limply dragged out a bit by a degree of repetition that further distances emotional investment, and isn't exactly the only flaw in this film's script. I don't know if it's because Ben Affleck is a stronger writer than Matt Damon, who Affleck made look better, or because John Krasinski is a weaker writer than Damon, who Krasinksi drags down, but either way, the fact of the matter is that, in this film, we're definately not looking at the Oscar-winning script that stood behind "Good Will Hunting", for although Damon's and Krasinski's script is decently colorful, you can expect to see this film slip into quite a few writing hiccups, or, at the very least, plotting tropes, as this film is not too much more than nothing if not conventional, hitting one familiar plot and characterization beat after another, until predictability sets in, or at least seems to, as this film ends on a note whose weakness is hard to see coming. Okay, now, maybe this film's conclusion isn't quite as frustrating as some say, but it does offer a lapse in intelligence that certainly throws you off as a particular height in the superficiality that can, to one degree or another, be found more than it should throughout the film, establishing characters with only so many genuine layers, and delivering certain controversial themes rather heavy-handedly. This film is a liberal one, and while there are a few notes to this project's agenda that I find somewhat noble, I'm not entirely on board with this film's thematic depth, which is made all the more disoncerting by pieces of intelligence's going all too often met by pieces of superficiality that not only drain thematic depth of much in the way of subtlety, but dilute the full punch behind this film's reasonably promising story concept, thus the fair deal of thin spots in said story concept go brought more to attention. It's not like the film was to ever be too strong, as its story concept, while with potential, isn't without its relatively thin spots, yet a bit too much goes undercut by a flawed script and often kind of bland storytelling, until what remains of a promising plot is a cliched, somewhat superficial, overambitious and altogether barely all that memorable effort. Still, no matter how much the film disappoints, in a few ways, the final product never comes out so underwhelming that you can't stick with it, as it, as I said, succeeds just fine as entertainment, or at least as a visually handsome film.

Now, the film isn't exactly a stunning testament to photography, because it's decidedly not that kind of film, but for what it is, this film is quite the looker, with cinematographer Linus Sandgren delivering on a handsome emphasis on darker colors, though not to where lighting and color come off as oddly grimy, thus giving the film a kind of attractive warmth to its looks that liven up atmosphere a bit. The film isn't particularly remarkable in its visual style, but it is more handsome than expected, finding the right balance between bland and bleak in order to deliver on quite a bit of appealing visual calmness that may occasionally find itself stylized up enough to not entirely fit with this film's storytelling atmosphere of limited weight, but generally graces the final product with a distinct degree of aesthetic liveliness that backs up the also reasonably commendable, if limited degree of intellectual liveliness within the film's script. Again, as a writing team, Matt Damon and John Krasinski make more than a few errors, from plotting cliches to superficiality in this film's subject matter's thematic weight, which, in all fairness, I wouldn't have been entirely on board with, even without the heavy-handedness, due to its being a bit too liberal for my tastes, yet for every misstep, Damon and Krasinski turn in a strength, notably when it comes to the intelligence level, which may lapse at times, but often presents certain aspects behind this subject matter with about as much cleverness that can be found in a film this liberal. The film is genuinely interesting at times, when Damon and Krasinski really put some kick into their, by the liberals, rather washed brains, but really, if Damon and Krasinski do nothing else as writers, it's deliver on colorful punch-up, because even though Damon isn't turning in the lively snappers that he consistently delivered on when he teamed up with his good buddy, Ben Affleck, in his last effort with Gus Van Sant, there are still plenty of points in dialogue that catch your attention as genuinely clever, while certain moments in humor range from decent to surprisingly quite amusing. The film isn't quite as witty as it could have been, but there really is quite a bit of cleverness to, at the very least, the punch-up behind Damon's and Krasinski's script, a mess, but one that offers its share of intelligent moments to break up consistent color in punch-up that help in driving this film as an entertainment piece, truly brought to life by the fair deal of lively points in Gus Van Sant's storytelling, as well as carried by the color within this film's talented cast. This film's characters aren't as meaty in structure as they perhaps should have been, no matter how dramatically limited this film is, even in concept, yet the characters who power this film's story recieve about as much care as they can as hardly layered components to a somewhat thin story, and that's good, especially when these characters go brought to life by a myriad of colorful performers, all of whom share fine chemistry, as well as distinct charisma by their own individual rights. Now, the film isn't as considerably flawed as I make it sound,, but it could have been more, and yet, what the final product ultimately is is powered by colorful strengths that are perhaps stronger than I make them sound, not so much so that the final product comes off as all that rewarding, but certainly to where you end up with a film that is genuinely entertaining on the whole, regardless of its bland areas.

Overall, the film goes blanded up by slow spells, made all the worse by some repetitious plotting that taint Matt Damon's and John Krasinski's script, though decidedly not as much as cliches that spark predictability, and superficiality that leaves characters and themes to not go as thoroughly explored as they probably should be, thus emphasizing the story thinness that goes into making this film a disappointing one, but doesn't quite underwhelm enough to fully undercut what is done right with this film, a handsomely shot piece of entertainment that boasts a flawed, but sometimes genuinely intelligent script that, more than anything, turns in quite a bit of cleverness to dialogue and humor, - brought to life by lively areas in Gus Van Sant's storytelling, and a near-wealth of charisma within the cast - as well as enough nobility in ambition to make "Promised Land" a generally entertaining opus, though one that could have used more effort to back up ambition.

2.5/5 - Fair

Even though it's preachier than a convention of pastors, Matt Damon's latest act of Good Will isn't a total fracking disaster. In fact, it's a feel good message movie that really hits home, especially in Northeastern-most Pennsylvania where the shale industry's set the now-flammable tap water on an extra-crispy setting. Oh, it colors by numbers, only the colors are black and white even if the numbers amount to a respectable figure. The movie's most egregious act is how it forces intelligent filmgoers drink the communal Kool-Aid dredged up from the water of Silent Spring rather than use subtlety. Regardless of how hard he proselytizes, however, Damon earns a Gold Star for formulating what's topical into an easy-to-swallow pill. It's still a force-fed pill, mind--just not a horsepill choking hazard.

In this R-rated drama, a multibillion-dollar company sends two of its top salesmen (Damon, Frances McDormand) to convince a small town's residents to lease their land for fracking rights.

Damon allows the rest of the cast to shine first, relegating himself to the rube role before a predictable close plays out. Even after kicking blockbusting ass as amnesiatic superspy Jason Borne, Damon perfectly embodies an Everyman quality like he was the lovechild of Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck. The story doesn't pose a Land of opportunity but, thanks to the taut direction of Damon's Good Will Hunting collaborator Gus Van Sant, the action never lags. Still, Damon and co-screenwriter Krasinski come up with a twist and romantic hook clever enough to keep even the most cynical filmgoers vested.

Bottom Line: Bourne mediocrity.

Promised Land has a good script, beautiful cinematography, and great acting, yet somehow it doesn't really end up being more than a decent drama, and that's a little disappointing considering it's made by the same team that did Good Will Hunting. That isn't to say it's a bad movie by any means, it's just a rather unremarkable one that doesn't exactly push any boundaries in terms of story or storytelling. It just plays it relatively safe, aside from the blatant political messages, messages which I don't really mind as long the movie is interesting. One thing the movie does have going for it though is the cast of exceptionally talented actors including Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, Hal Holbrook, and John Krasinski. Promised Land is without a doubt one of the weaker movies from director Gus Van Sant, but it still manages to stay afloat thanks to its script and impressive cast.

I'm not an environmentalist and Promised Land isn't the movie to push me anywhere in that direction. The idea of this movie was put on the back-burner for a story that focuses on the characters. Even though Gus Van Sant started off as a magnificent director, he became a hit and miss guy, who probably did all he could with the script that had an ending that just fizzled and went limp. And a standard Hollywood ending to boot.

The main problem I had with Promised Land is that they made the main character, Steve Butler (Matt Damon), so unbelievably ignorant. He's a small town guy turned corporate ladder climber who thinks he's helping everyone out. He has no idea that fracking is as bad as it is and believes a big corporation dealing with energy sources is honest and good. It blew my mind the whole movie. There's no real dilemma here until the very end, then Promised Land cops out.

Matt Damon and John Krasinski are very entertaining actors, and both of them turn in wonderful performances. Damon and Frances McDormand have great chemistry as corporate salesmen who love their job and like each others company. The supporting cast is an extraordinary list of actors. Rosemarie DeWitt is the best little known actress in Hollywood. She does a lot of smaller movies and holds her ground every time she's paired with big named actors.

I just can't recommend Promised Land while it's in theaters, but would say if you want to see it on the movie channel when you don't have to pay for it, you may like it; and if you don't, at least you didn't fork over cash to watch it.

Matt Damon and Frances McDormand work so well together! While the film had a good story and solid directing from Gus Van Sant. I think the times we see the two lead actors together, is by far the best thing about the film.

Promised Land is Gus Van Sant's (Good Will Hunting, To Die For) latest film; but is unfortunately just another "message movie" that shamelessly preaches to the choir. If one is a member of that choir, they'll likely jump aboard and overlook the film's shortcomings but it does nobody any good by simplifying ideas and misconceptions (which is what Promised Land does). The film stars Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Identity) and Frances McDormand (Almost Famous, Fargo) as smooth-talking executives for a natural gas conglomerate who are sent to a small town in Middle America to buy up land and have citizens sign-away their life rights ... because natural gas is safe and natural and poses not a single problem to society or the communities from which we harvest it (sarcasm abounded in that sentence). While I do have a left-leaning mind and this film should be right-up-my-alley poltically and environmentally speaking, I didn't appreciate how the film is presented. It is simple-minded and condescending at times while trying to convey some of the problems with fracking associated with natural gas extraction (I will not lie, though ... fracking is rather frightening when thought about fully). John Krasinski (The Office, It's Complicated) plays a small-town country boy activist who is speaking out on how terrible some corporations can be and Rosemarie DeWitt (Mad Men, Rachel Getting Married) plays a small-town girl conflicted with deciding which of the two guys she wants to date (seriously ... this is the conundrum for the young pretty girl in the film ... nevermind the environment or other social ills). This is watchable and those in the choir might like it quite a bit ... it just is not for me. I'd rather watch Van Sant's other ode to small towns, To Die For, again ... which oddly isn't about fracking at all but instead a wholesome small town weather girl. ;)

Its an interesting story about and interesting topic. The performances are great especially Damon. Its definitely a little biased especially towards the end. I didn't really like the end very much. The twist just seems a little stupid and convoluted. I think with a different end I would have enjoyed it more but overall its definitely worth a watch.

It may be known as the anti-fracking movie, but Promised Land deftly portrays an America with a stressed economy and an even more stressed populace, particularly in our farm communities. Matt Damon stars as a corporate suit offering big bucks to farmers in exchange for the rights to drill on their land for natural gas. John Krasinski, The Office star who wrote the earnest screenplay with Damon, is an activist working to stop Damon, and from the struggle, director Gus Van Sant gives this complex issue a human side, and thus gives us a portrait of America in crisis and in need.

A solid film about the conflict between the benefits of big business and the consequences that are often left behind. One of the film's great attributes is that Van Sant manages to portray the feeling of a real small town, perhaps by going on set or using local talent, but regardless, it just feels genuine. It was engaging watching the evolution of Matt Damon's character.

While Promised Land occasionally succeeds in terms of storytelling, it is pretty clear that Krasinski and Damon were ready to accept writing an hour and a half of fluff in exchange for ten minutes of a political agenda. 4/10.

This ain't no "Good Will Hunting" which I loved, but instead "Promised Land" feels like a movie directed by someone other than the acclaimed Gus Van Sant in which they created Oscar gold their first time around. The last movie Damon was in with an Oscar winning director (Clint Eastwood) also felt like it was directed by someone else other than who was named - why is that? Again Matt decides he needs a co-writer and this time he works with John Krasinski who keeps getting put in films with great actors only to under preform and prove that he is best left to work with a large ensemble cast like The Office. And what happened to Matt Damon the great actor. He wrote this script and could have written himself a great Oscar winning part, but falls short. And what is with some of the odd R-TV 101 camera work?

The redeeming element to this movie which comes across like a TNT Erin Brokovich knock off is that there is a bit of a twist at the end which had to happen because this movie was slowly meandering into snoozeville. The setup is that Matt Damon and Frances McDormand go into these small farm town to offer small prices to lease the land to "frack" for natural gas in which the big corporate company will make all of the money. Hal Holbrook plays the well educated moral compass of reason to point out the dangers of fracking. At that point, Matt Damon's character makes all sorts of slips and mistakes of a rank amateur. In the end, even with the twist, it doesn't matter. The debate was over an hour ago. There is no way these people are gonna cave in for the money over the thought of losing their cattle and safe drinking water. The failure is that the debate wasn't setup well enough and Matt damon's character didn't have a strong argument or the answers that he should have had and had prior.

The movie ends with an open ending, but frankly I didn't care. I heard Matt Damon say, "I'm not a bad man." several times throughout the movie. No you're not but this is not a great movie.

I had friends wondering why it hadn't gotten any award buzz, look no further. The obvious bland knock off if just half assed all around by everyone but Hal Holbrook who is the heart of this movie.