Green Zone (2010)

Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.

Director:

Paul Greengrass

Writers:

Brian Helgeland, Rajiv Chandrasekaran (book)

Stars:

Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Greg Kinnear

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Igal Naor	...	Al Rawi
Said Faraj	...	Seyyed Hamza
Faycal Attougui	...	Al Rawi Bodyguard (as Faical Attougui)
Aymen Hamdouchi	...	Ayad Hamza
Matt Damon	...	Miller
Nicoye Banks	...	Perry
Jerry Della Salla	...	Wilkins
Sean Huze	...	Conway
Michael J. Dwyer	...	Met-D (as Michael Dwyer)
Edouard H.R. Gluck	...	Met-D
Brian Siefkes	...	Met-D
Adam Wendling	...	Met-D
Abdul Henderson	...	Met-D
Paul Karsko	...	Met-D
Robert Miller	...	Met-D

Storyline

Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement, according to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, Poundstone. Veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons, it is a deception to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Also suspicious of Poundstone is Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, who lets slip to Miller that Poundstone told her he had secret talks in Jordan with an important Iraqi, code-named Magellan, who told him about the weapons, though it now seems likely Magellan's true information was to the contrary. So begins a hunt for the truth. Who's playing whom?

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Plot Keywords:

political military conspiracy | interrogation by torture | american | female reporter | speech | 

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Taglines:

Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller is done following orders

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Roy Miller is based on U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer named Richard "Monty" Gonzales who had the real-life job of hunting for weapons of mass destruction after the fall of Baghdad. Gonzales was hired as a consultant on the film.

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Goofs

When Chief Miller and his MET team are about to raid the first site for WMDs they are seen wearing a DCU uniform (BDU styled uniform featuring 3-color desert camouflage pattern AKA 'coffee-stains pattern') just before they enter the building. Once inside the building, Miller and his team are all wearing Woodland Camouflage BDU uniform. When they come outside, they're again seen wearing DCU uniform. (This is not a continuity error. The team puts on MOPP/JLIST chemical warfare suits to sweep the building. At the time, these suits were generally only commonly available in woodland camouflage.)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Al Rawi Bodyguard: [air raid sirens] Leave that! Space is limited!
Al Rawi Bodyguard: [explosions beginning] Hurry up! Hurry! We must leave now!
Al Rawi Bodyguard: [chaos in the hallways] Downstairs everyone!
Al Rawi Bodyguard: General...
General Al Rawi: [no response]
Al Rawi Bodyguard: General Al Rawi, sir. We must leave now.
Al Rawi Bodyguard: Ayad, get in the car. I'm right behind you.
[leaving the building]
Al Rawi Bodyguard: Seyyed, send the men to the safe houses.
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #18.7 (2010)

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Soundtracks

The Sum of Us
Written by Akil (as Dante Givens), Soup (as Courtenay Henderson), Cut Chemist, DJ Nu-Mark (as Mark Potsic), Chali 2na, Marc 7 (as Marc Stuart)
Performed by Jurassic 5
Courtesy of Interscope Records
Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd

User Reviews

Intelligent action thriller

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Studiocanal [France]

Country:

UK France Spain USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

12 March 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Green Zone

Filming Locations:

Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,309,295, 14 March 2010

Gross USA:

$35,053,660

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$154,711,438

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1