Day of the Falcon

3.5 stars... ambitious but uneven movie
Imagine my surprise when this past weekend, out of the blue, this movie appeared (on a single screen) in the theatre here in Cincinnati, almost a year and a half after it was first released in Europe. I figured this would not be playing very long, and went ahead and saw it.

"Day of the Falcon" (2011 release from France/Qatar; 130 min.) is also known as "Black Gold" in certain markets. The epic desert-and-oil story is set in the 1930s in a fictional Middle East area where two tribes are dealing differently with the unexpected windfalls of crude oil discoveries. As the movie opens, we see how, in order to preserve peace, the Amar tribe leader sends off his two young sons to live with the rival Nesib tribe leader, with an additional agreed "no-man's land" area called the Yellow Belt between the two tribes. Skip 15 years forward and we now see the sons are grown men, and a Texas oil company strikes it big in the Yellow Belt and approaches the two rivaling tribes. The Nesib...

A Great Epic!
This review does contain spoilers!

I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of this film to review. Day of the Falcon is a "well-oiled machine" that moves along fairly fast given the 130 minute run time. Within this movie, you can expect to see some romance, action, betrayal, and violence. This movie pretty much gives you all the drama you crave and can handle.

Day of the Falcon takes place in the early 20th Century in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, which are divided by feuding tribes and where there is basically no loyalty. It starts out with a meeting between two tribe leaders, Emir Nesib (Antonio Banderas) and Sultan Amar (Mark Strong) making peace after a battle between the two, which Nesib won. Nesib has Sultan hand over his two sons, Auda and Saleh, to make sure he will not battle against him again and they both promised the area of that land would not be claimed by either tribe.

The film then progresses in time and an American named,...

An Old-Fashioned Action/Adventure Epic
DAY OF THE FALCON is an old-fashioned action/adventure epic that evokes memories of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the film is set in the Middle East during the early part of the twentieth century when oil is discovered in a "no man's land" that divides two warring tribes. The forward-thinking ruler of one tribe (Antonio Banderas) embraces the finding, realizing that the accompanying wealth can help his people, while the other sultan (Mark Strong) despises any influence from the outside, modern world, claiming that such amenities are against the Koran. War is re-ignited, and the principal player in the conflict turns out to be the studious son of Strong (Tahar Rahim), who is now also the son-in-law of Banderas, having married his daughter, played by Freida Pinto.

DAY OF THE FALCON is a handsome, well-directed picture, filled with exciting action sequences and beautifully photographed desert vistas. The story is certainly involving, and...

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