I went to see the movie over the long weekend, and came away quite impressed. The plot is intricate, and it's hard to keep up with who's who - but that is exactly why I found it so intriguing. It is dealing with the Middle East, after all, so it would be ridiculous to depict any aspect of it as clear cut.

I also thought the film did a fine job of depicting the magnitude of the issues at play, from the size of the oil refineries to the very disconnected yet overlapping relationships. Clooney does a fine job in his role, and even Matt Damon does a little acting.

A telling scene is where Damon and a young Arab prince look at a group of drunkenly laughing oilmen, and Damon is asked what he thinks they are laughing at. He replies something like "they are laughing at you, spending $50K on toys as the oil runs dry and your country has no infrastructure and has made no effort to diversify your economy"