It's a movie about fracking
and not frakking as in the swear word from Battlestar Galactica (I really wish that was the case—so say we all!)
"Promised Land" is about a natural gas company coming into a dying farming town with promises of riches if they lease their land for the purposes of fracking (fracking being the process of drilling). The company sends in the bright eyed, hungry young go-getter Steve Butler (Matt Damon) and his partner Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand) to a small Pennsylvania farm town that, with some minor resistance, is all but welcomed with open arms as the dollar signs start to fill the eyes of the struggling members of the community. That is until the environmentalist Dustin Noble (get it? Noble) arrives and throws a wrench into the works as he claims he's from a town that was financially obliterated by the greedy gas company folks.
For the most part, "Promised Land" is a pretty decent film, however its weakness comes in the fact the film is a character-driven one when it should have been a story-driven affair. While there's nothing wrong with a film that is all about the characters and their evolution and development but when you have a story about the environmental impact that comes from fracking THAT probably should have been the focus and not whether the Gas Man or the Hippie can get more friends in a desperate town. This dynamic makes the film feel like two different movies (that are kinda similar) being rolled into one film.
"Promised Land" isn't a bad movie at all. While it's a little distracting that the film's emphasis changes at one point, it wasn't so awful that it harmed the film in a major way. In fact, the opening and the ending of the film are so strong that the sudden character-centric change the film takes, and the push the story suffers with it, gets completely redeemed. Even the fact that McDormand, Damon and Krasinski aren't giving the best performances of their careers can be overlooked because even at their weakest, they are still enjoyable to watch. Granted Krasinski spends a good portion of the film making it look like Jim quit Dunder Mifflin and left Pam for a life as a man on a crusade against fracking. Overall, the movie is good enough to watch once and maybe check out again later in life if the need suddenly arises.
"Promised Land" is about a natural gas company coming into a dying farming town with promises of riches if they lease their land for the purposes of fracking (fracking being the process of drilling). The company sends in the bright eyed, hungry young go-getter Steve Butler (Matt Damon) and his partner Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand) to a small Pennsylvania farm town that, with some minor resistance, is all but welcomed with open arms as the dollar signs start to fill the eyes of the struggling members of the community. That is until the environmentalist Dustin Noble (get it? Noble) arrives and throws a wrench into the works as he claims he's from a town that was financially obliterated by the greedy gas company folks.
For the most part, "Promised Land" is a pretty decent film, however its weakness comes in the fact the film is a character-driven one when it should have been a story-driven affair. While there's nothing wrong with a film that is all about the characters and their evolution and development but when you have a story about the environmental impact that comes from fracking THAT probably should have been the focus and not whether the Gas Man or the Hippie can get more friends in a desperate town. This dynamic makes the film feel like two different movies (that are kinda similar) being rolled into one film.
"Promised Land" isn't a bad movie at all. While it's a little distracting that the film's emphasis changes at one point, it wasn't so awful that it harmed the film in a major way. In fact, the opening and the ending of the film are so strong that the sudden character-centric change the film takes, and the push the story suffers with it, gets completely redeemed. Even the fact that McDormand, Damon and Krasinski aren't giving the best performances of their careers can be overlooked because even at their weakest, they are still enjoyable to watch. Granted Krasinski spends a good portion of the film making it look like Jim quit Dunder Mifflin and left Pam for a life as a man on a crusade against fracking. Overall, the movie is good enough to watch once and maybe check out again later in life if the need suddenly arises.