Promised Land
2012
**½
Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, Titus Welliver, Terry Kinney
Steve Butler and his colleague travel to a rural farming town to convince the local landowners to lease their land for fracking, a controversial method of extracting oil and natural gas, but they encounter unexpected resistance from an environmental activist. Through Steve's personal journey, this interesting but ultimately disappointing drama attempts to deal with the potential environmental and health risks of fracking. Steve is a well-drawn if slightly oblivious character, and the story builds up nicely. However, the stupid and predictable twists in the last 15 minutes leave a bad aftertaste. Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the stars of the film, also wrote the screenplay.
