Film Review: Promised Land
It’s not one of Gus Van Sant’s best, but one that still deserves a viewing
What do you do with a problem like Gus Van Sant? His name is sometimes thrown in the ring with other great directors, however the glimpses of brilliance he occasionally shows with films like To Die For, Good Will Hunting and Milk always seem to be overshadowed with other low-budget indie flops like Elephant, Last Days and Paranoid Park. With Promised Land, a film that was originally to be directed by Matt Damon, Van Sant does his best with what must be considered an average script.
Corporate Salesman Steve Butler (Matt Damon) and his sales partner Sue Thomason (Francis McDormand) arrive in a country town in rural wherever, looking to acquire the rights to drill on the property of the local folk. They work for a company called Global Crosspower Solutions. They’re drilling for natural gas, and in their minds everyone has a price.
What starts out as an easy sell is soon compounded by antagonist, or protagonist forces (whichever way you look at it) who will do their best to sway the collective opinion of Cowboy County. This is championed by Dustin Noble (John Krasinski from TV’s The Office), a one-man crusade who has beef with Global.
The Danny Elfman score, the kind faces of the characters, and the good humour that accompany them all give this film a very homely feel. Van Sant does well at framing the sprawling country landscape, referring back to aerial views of the town throughout the story which gives us good scope of what’s really at stake here; an already decaying land about to become more desolate if Global wins the fight. It’s also quite easy to get lost in the momentum of the story as Van Sant paces each act at a comfortable rate. Before you know it you’ll be reading the names in the credits looking for one that might suit your unborn child (anyone else do that?). For better or worse, this is a very straightforward plot. One slight twist is thrown in to make it half interesting.
While Promised Land tackles an important and current social, political and environmental issue (fracking’s so hot right now), the film never really reaches its full potential or delivers a knock out blow. If Damon and Krasinski, who both co-wrote the screenplay, wanted to make a statement on the issue at play, then it should be a no-holds barred, bullshit free account of what the implications of fracking really are. For example, showing a couple of images of dead cows probably doesn’t pull on the heartstrings as much as a couple of kids who drank contaminated water and now have cancer. Why hold back here fella’s? The screenplay puts character ahead of story, which is usually what happens when actors write screenplays. The film focuses on relationships between the characters rather than the bigger issue, and this is where the film falters. The tone for such a serious subject is just a little too gentle here. If you’re after a more accurate account of what fracking is and its implications examined a little more in depth, look for a documentary from 2010 called Gasland. In a sense, this film feels like a sugar-coated version for the masses.
For all my negativity about ‘what could have been’, the audience will still receive a nicely packaged film. It’s not one of Gus Van Sant’s best, but one that still deserves a viewing. If you’ve got a couple of hours to kill…
PROMISED LAND
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Written by: Matt Damon & John Krasinski
Cast: Matt Damon, Francis McDormand, John Krasinski
Released by: Focus Features