It probably appears from past reviews of mine that I might have something against Matt Damon, but that idea couldn't be further from the truth. I think Mr. Damon is one of the best actors alive today. I heard something on the radio years ago where the host said "I think every DiCaprio film would be just a little bit better if they had been Matt Damon films." For the most part, I agree with that sentiment. However, this film is good not just because of Damon.

Damon plays the role of Steve Butler, who works for a massive energy company and is a negotiator of sorts. He has a reputation for moving into small communities and quickly and cheaply (in relation to the payout) convincing land-owners to sign over the mineral rights to their properties. He teams up with his partner Sue Thompson (Frances McDormand) and heads to a small Pennsylvania town, which is struggling to survive financially, to convince the community that fracking, and the money that will come along with it, is a good idea.

At first, everything seems to be going wonderfully as a vast majority of the community welcomes Butler in and feels compelled to sign over their land rights to the energy company. However, shortly thereafter an environmental activist group turns up in the form of Dustin Noble (John Krasinski) who begins informing the community about the dangers of fracking and public opinion starts to tilt towards not signing over the rights to the energy company.

The rest of the movie is actually very compelling, particularly for me since a vast majority of my family, including my own parents, come from communities just like the one represented in this film. It also shows how the tactics of giant corporations, and the manipulations that they utilize to sway public opinion, can be a bit... how to say.... dirty.

This movie lost a bunch of money and that doesn't make sense to me. However, for whatever reason the studios decided to only released the film in a very limited sense so that probably has something to do with the failure. I am probably giving it extra points because of my own background but i will also say that movie moves quite slowly. I still found it entertaining though. Oh, it isn't too preachy either, but just kind of makes you look at corporations in a less-than-trusting way... as if we already didn't.

7 / 10