My problems with the 'twist'

I don't think Krasinski's character was even necessary at all. There was no environmental presence in the town. That is a good thing for the company, and they had no resistance in all the other towns so they didn't need to brign him in. That old teacher couldn't have done anything by himself.

Besides this movie is full of unrealistic lies a company would never bribe a local official in that manner. This IS an anti-capitalist, liberal, radical propaganda film which is fitting for Matt Damon who is best know for the anti-American Bourne series. OH yes this film was also financed by Arab oil sheikhs from Abu Dhabi, of course they don't want the US to produce gas domestically and have to continue buying it from them. I'm sure fracking happens in Abu Dhabi and other Persian Gulf states but they have no problem with that.

I think all your points are excellent--just watched this film today and had many of the same issues. Well put.

Well, Damon's character had just received a promotion. Maybe they were interested in how loyal he was/how he would handle a challenge like the one from the Krasinski character and this was part of a performance evaluation of some kind. I assumed the Krasinski character was indeed a higher ranking official in the company.

I agree about the stupidity of him admitting what he was up to, especially when, as you said, of course he would know where the pictures really came from regardless. Then again, I guess this could have been some kind of overly elaborate test for the Damon character.

Maybe they expected the old fellow, who seemed pretty well organized and supported, to find those pictures anyway and hoped to confuse people by associating them with an exposed liar. Of course you're right that these are pictures of the terrible results of fracking regardless so this is the best way they can cover it up, assuming they were willing to take the risk of revealing the pictures just in case someone else could come up with them. I admit this is a little thin.

I agree that they could have been better at putting it all together and that your criticisms have validity.



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I thought it was lame because it stretches into some implausible illuminati infowars 911 truther x-files all powerful conspiracy *beep*

It's like this random piece of dystopian science fiction thrown into the movie as an easy way out

I think he was just trying to get Damon fired up so he would really take him down at the end. And I think he was just a sociopathic dick, and I think he was higher up on the corporate foodchain than Damon was. He considered Damon a *beep*-up for letting it go to vote, that's the only reason the corporation sent him. He wouldn't have been sent if the town didn't set up the vote. They wanted to rig the vote.

the problem with the OP.

if he told him what he was up to it would make a pretty boring movie wouldnt it?

i also believe that dustin was their "best" liar. i mean it took him only a week or two of lying to the town to get them on his side so he was pretty convincing. also i believe he was at a higher level them damon.



i thought the twist was pretty good i really didn't expect it. i expected the town to vote down the company and a "feel good" moral victory for the audience.


instead you get what is probably a very very VERY real way that these situations go down. i hope it woke a few people up in that respect. no i'm not talking about just environmental issues but in general. like the one farmer said...."your only here because we are poor." truer words could not have been spoken you people really think these big companies have your best interests at heart?

The reason the twist doesn't work is because no company in their right mind would leave it to Matt Damon and Frances mcdormand to solve this issue. They wouldn't take a chance on losing so much money when they could expend such little effort to diffuse it. Dustin was a cocky millenial punk-ass who had no respect for Matt Damon's abilities. Matt Damon could only do his job better than mcdormand (hence him getting the vp position) when he believed in what he was doing. When he believed it was the best, although flawed, alternative for the town.

Throughout the movie one could only hope Dustin worked for global. Still, coming clean to Matt Damon was stupid. Just displayed his flaw of arrogance. And, it does explain and justify past scenes.

I had most of the same problems you did, but I didn't have a problem with Dustin's actions before he revealed himself. He was playing a role and he needed to commit to it 100%. That meant treating Damon's character exactly like an environmental activist would and that's what he did.

Where the film lost me completely was in the "reveal" of the twist. It was stupid of Dustin to do and unnecessary for the film. I was thinking it before he admitted it. They should have just had Dustin leaving, but not appearing too unhappy about being caught. Then Damon could have either figured it out or run into him later in New York.