Promised Land now on DVD/Blu-RaySomething about Matt Damon – you just trust the guy. That's a great quality to have if you're a film actor in the Hollywood Leading Man category.
Damon is at the prime of a career that began with his portrayal of a boy genius in Good Will Hunting. He's since played soldiers (Saving Private Ryan), poker players (Rounders), con men (Ocean's Eleven), gangsters (The Departed), cowboys (True Grit) and rogue assassins (the Bourne movies). Whatever the role, Damon quietly finds the right frequency.
In the timely drama Promised Land – new to DVD and Blu-ray this week – Damon plays the ostensible bad guy. His name is Steve Butler and he works for the ginormous and sinister energy company Global Crosspower. His job is to go into small towns and convince the locals to lease their land to Global. In turn, the company will mine natural gas via the controversial drilling process known as fracking.
Steve and his partner Sue Thomason (an Oscar worthy performance from Frances McDormand) find the poor farmers of middle America are all too eager to sign over their land to Global. There's big money in a fast cash payout, though Sue and Steve underplay the nastier aspects of fracking – the distinct possibility that your water will turn to poison and your land will turn to dust.
Steve's job becomes more complicated when he makes a stop in a small Pennsylvania town. A local high school teacher (Hal Holbrook) has done his homework on fracking and mobilizes the town against Global. A crusading environmentalist also arrives on the scene, played by John Krasinski, who co-wrote the script with Damon. Then there is the matter of the girl, a beautiful and charming local played by the always-impressive Rosemarie DeWitt.
Promised Land moves through familiar territory – little guy versus big business, corporate greed versus ecological caution – but director Gus van Sant is more interested in people than politics. Damon's character is entirely likeable. He thinks he's doing the right thing. (This is where Damon's inherent trustworthiness comes into play.) And Krasinski's good guy crusader isn't all rainbows and sunshine. There's a menacing edge to his eco-warrior routine.
The film was shot on location in Pennsylvania and Van Sant peoples the screen with locals, non-actor extras and various signifiers of authenticity. Watch for the very excellently named local store "Rob's Guns, Groceries, Guitars and Gas." Promised Land has some tricks up its sleeve in the third act, and the movie doesn't necessarily end up where you might think it might.
It also has a definite opinion on the business of fracking, but the filmmakers never hammer home any specific agenda. As a film, Promised Land seems more interested in documenting a particular time and place in America. In twenty years, Promised Land might have a different significance entirely, as we look back on our economic and energy policies circa 2013.
In any case, none of this works without Damon's dextrous lead performance. Matt Damon may be one of the planet's biggest movie stars, but he's often underrated as a screen actor. He makes the movie tick.
Extras: A single extended scene and a short, largely promotional making-of featurette. This seems like a missed opportunity; it would have been nice to get some context and details on the fracking debate.
Also New This Week:
Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor in the wrenching tsunami drama The Impossible.
Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the period crime picture Gangster Squad.
Marlon Wayans, Nick Swardson and Cedric the Entertainer in the found-footage horror spoof A Haunted House.
Sam Neill, Laura Dern and several dozen lethal dinosaurs in the 3D reissue of Jurassic Park, which is still playing in select theaters.
Plus:
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Night of the Hunted (1980)
Wuthering Heights (2011)
Note: This was written by Glenn McDonald, a Digital Crave contributor.
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