Green Zone

Green Zone is a movie about a soldier, leader of the team hunting for WMDs in Iraq, tries to step over the official army bullshit line and the red tape and actually achieve something. He gets a lucky break in finding a lead on general Al Rawi (the Jack of clubs in the famous Iraqi card deck) and stumbles upon a secret that explain not only why there are no WMDs, but also why (or better said how) the Americans came to enter the war.

As a movie it is a neat action film. A slightly less physical Bourne in Iraq, but with a political edge. It features shootings, helicopters, drama, conspiracies, evil suits, mislead Americans (represented, of course, by a journalist) lots of people speaking Arabic for no good reason other than they are Iraqi and lots of cramped alleyways.

There was a controversy about how the movie seems to reflect upon a real story. The real-life Roy Miller (actually Richard Gonzales, but shh, Miller sounds better), who also worked as a consultant for the movie, has issued a statement in which he clearly states the plot is a fantasy. I like how he ends the statement: "The real story of the hunt for WMD is, in fact, more interesting. Maybe one day, someone will want to tell that story.". A bit sad and a bit hopeful. Maybe History Channel will pick up on it in a few decades, when the heat is off ;)

Bottom line: well done action thriller, better than most, but then I like Matt Damon as an actor, so maybe I am biased. Certainly above average.

Feel like seeing an action flick, watching bodies fly everywhere, and good guys kill bad guys? Do not see this movie.

Green Zone was a very surprising experience for me. I was on the way to the cinema expecting, as several posters quoted, 'Born goes epic'. Instead, I got a nice combination of politics, moral dilemmas, and maybe even some very light philosophy.

The film takes a popular, but still a controversial & for many people shameful, view on the Iraq war. The plot is complex but relatively easy to follow thanks to a(sometimes too) straight-forward set up, good directing, and sensible scene sequences. The plot does not bring you any traditional action flick twists and rarely pushes you to the edge of the seat, but makes up for it by making you think about some of the more real and worrying aspects of war and politics. The characters could have used some more development and dynamic, but on the bright side it was nice to not have every single thing rotate around Bourne. On the contrary, throughout the whole movie the focus was on a wider picture rather than on any of the more specific details in the story itself. It was nice to see the lines between bad & good drawn in such a blurry manner. I was confused and indecisive in labelling characters as on the goody or the baddie side. The plot had an interesting ending, slightly ruined by a cheesy line from one of the characters, but brilliantly made up for by a fantastic scene of Baghdad at night. I found that whilst the epilogue of the movie was needed to explain consequences, something like a few sentences appearing on a black screen would have finished the movie in a much nicer mood than that in which it finished in reality. The plot took up an intellectual viewpoint on the Iraq war and gave me something to think about on the subject of both the Iraq war and the idea of war in general. This was something that you rarely see in movies like this, and made the movie the enjoyable experience that it is.

The directing & cinematography in the movie were nothing special. Several style ideas were re-used from the Bourne movies, and action was not always as gripping as one might want, or at least expect. However, it was never bad either - all sequences kept a consistent standard of dialogue, special effects, and the little action that there was.

The acting in the movie was one of the few things that I expected. Matt Damon delivered his usual performance: a cool, in-control soldier committed to get to the bottom of things. The supporting actors all delivered their parts well enough, with Greg Kinnear holding his usual cunning, conniving, corrupt, money-thirsty politician role. However, because, as mentioned before, the film focused on a wider picture, the acting did not put me off the movie in any way whatsoever. The one other thing which the movie lacked almost entirely throughout was humour. It's always nice to get a giggle in between moral implications and people dying all over the place.

I have given the movie 7 out of 10 in total, with seven points for wider plot depth, intellectual aspects, directing & cinematography, CGI & special effects, and the last three points deduced for acting, immediate plot depth, action sequences, and humour, or rather the lack of it. It's a pleasant and original surprise, and something that will make you think after leaving the cinema.

MK

The Green Zone is that rarest of films—a well-written, rousing action thriller with a political conscience that perceptively deconstructs the idiocy of war. From the very first scene, the action grabs you and throttles you for the ensuing two hours—although the story is fairly complex, the exposition is handled deftly, and—despite the constantly jolting camera work—it's pretty easy to follow along with what's happening. Matt Damon delivers a strong performance as an Army Warrant Officer who truly cares about the justifications for his actions—he has no problem being a good soldier, as long as he knows that there are clear moral reasons behind what he's been ordered to do. Unfortunately, during the early days of the Iraq War, clear moral reasons were in very short supply, and Damon's character battles an array of competing military and political agendas as he searches for the truth behind the military's search for the ever-elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction rumored to be hidden in Iraq. This film is so well done, and Damon is so good in it, that I'm starting to consider the Greengrass/Damon tandem on a par with the Scorsese/DeNiro and Scorsese/DiCaprio pairings. Damon's best work (the last two Bourne films and this one) has come with Greengrass at the helm—here's to hoping they make many more fine films together.

One of the common threads linking films about the Iraq war is a sense of deep ambiguity about it's morality and purpose. "Green Zone" is no exception. Matt Damon skilfully portrays Roy Miller, an Army Warrant Officer whose unit is tasked with searching suspected WMD facilities for proof of the existence of Iraqi chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. A chance encounter with a sympathetic Iraqi civilian puts Miller on the trail of an Iraqi general who could provide him with the evidence that he needs. However, the Pentagon, the recently deposed Baathists, and the CIA all have different agendas for Iraq's future and Miller finds himself being used by players from all sides.

This is a tautly paced, engrossing thriller that inhabits a moral world where all colors are shades of gray. The cast are excellent and the direction is top-notch. Particularly noteworthy is the realistic and sympathetic depiction of the Iraqi characters, irrespective of their allegiances. There is no shortage of action and the plot keeps you guessing until the credits roll. Along with "The Hurt Locker" this is one of the best films about the Iraq war and a brilliant night out to boot.

This movie is not a sequel to Bourne flicks. It is more in the spirit of Costa-Gravas or Oliver Stone. MET Alpha is Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha. The 85th XTF is the 75th Exploitation Task Force. CWO Miller is CWO Gonzalez. The reporter is, of course, Judith Miller, the New York Times (not WSJ) reporter who sold out to the Bush administration to get bylines. She used her position as shill for Rummy to keep MET Alpha in Baghdad, chasing their tails while American soldiers died trying to find non-existent WMD, for the sole purpose of backing up Bush's lies. Miller's folio is full of information from Curveball (Magellan). The CIA, who knew Curveball was a liar, was also warning Miller. A perpetually smiling Ahmad Chalabi keeps popping up. He is no doubt thinking how fine it is for the US Army to hand him an entire country along with a treasury of several hundred million dollars.

Miller is angry because he knows his intelligence is bogus, the CIA has told him that much, even though the Army vouches for it, and tells Miller to shut up and follow orders.

The Pentagon puke tries to bribe Miller with a job if he plays along, and offers a veiled threat if he doesn't.

The movie is history, and not a simple action adventure flick. It follows actual events very closely. Knowing the facts makes the movie much more fascinating.