Years ago when the world was introduced the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon team they took the industry by storm with their Oscar winning film Good Will Hunting. While they are both A-list actors in their own right, their biggest success was the writing of that film. Now Damon is back in the writing seat, but has brought along The Office star John Krasinski with him. These two guys have gotten together to both write and star in the new film Promised Land that was originally meant to be Matt Damon's directing debut but due to time handed the reigns over to Gus Van Sant. With these guys at the helm and a supporting cast including Frances McDormand and Hal Holbrook is there any chance this movie won't work?
Promised Land follows a pair of corporate sales people who travel to a rural town who have been hit hard by the economic decline in hopes to acquire the property rights for drilling on their land. What seems like an easy job becomes complicated with a schoolteacher and an environmentalist lead a campaign that counters them both professionally and personally. When this movie first starts it moves a bit slow and shows signs of never really taking off. It's not until they take their first meeting that things get up and running making delivering a well written and engaging film. While it doesn't break any molds, it is a well written and acted film. The story is one that will affect everyone in a different way. It never really takes the route of pulling at the heart strings, but does deal with an important issue in today's world but lets it take both sides rather than just preaching one argument. Damon and Krasinski both deliver their always great performances and have great chemistry bouncing off of each other that really shows they work well together. The rest of the cast do a great job and it's always great to see Hal Holbrook who delivers a great performance as usual. They made the choice to shoot this film on location in the country where these issues are occurring all the time and it really gave the film a more realistic film. While the issues involved in the film are serious, the visuals are beautiful to look at and add a downhome feel that this story needs to suck you in.
Damon and Krasinski have crafted a good movie that is relevant and works. There is nothing here that makes it stand out as something amazing, but it is worth checking out. If you are a fan of any of those involved in this movie then you will surely want to check it out.
Promised Land follows a pair of corporate sales people who travel to a rural town who have been hit hard by the economic decline in hopes to acquire the property rights for drilling on their land. What seems like an easy job becomes complicated with a schoolteacher and an environmentalist lead a campaign that counters them both professionally and personally. When this movie first starts it moves a bit slow and shows signs of never really taking off. It's not until they take their first meeting that things get up and running making delivering a well written and engaging film. While it doesn't break any molds, it is a well written and acted film. The story is one that will affect everyone in a different way. It never really takes the route of pulling at the heart strings, but does deal with an important issue in today's world but lets it take both sides rather than just preaching one argument. Damon and Krasinski both deliver their always great performances and have great chemistry bouncing off of each other that really shows they work well together. The rest of the cast do a great job and it's always great to see Hal Holbrook who delivers a great performance as usual. They made the choice to shoot this film on location in the country where these issues are occurring all the time and it really gave the film a more realistic film. While the issues involved in the film are serious, the visuals are beautiful to look at and add a downhome feel that this story needs to suck you in.
Damon and Krasinski have crafted a good movie that is relevant and works. There is nothing here that makes it stand out as something amazing, but it is worth checking out. If you are a fan of any of those involved in this movie then you will surely want to check it out.