In a film that differs from Damon's usual Bourne antics, Green Zone manages to make the best out of the elements from the book it inspired itself from, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a non-fiction book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran which takes an objective look at the American occupation of Iraq.
Synopsis of Green Zone
Chief Roy Miller (Damon) and his team of soldiers are on assignment to seek out and locate Saddam Hussein's notorious hidden caches of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) as announced by the Bush administration as a main cause for new occupation of the war torn Middle Eastern nation of Iraq. After many repeated scouting missions where not one piece of weaponry is retrieved or even detected, Miller starts to question the reliability of the intelligence source his superiors rely on, a point he strongly makes during a briefing, much to the dismay of his commanding officer.
While working yet another fruitless lead digging through an open courtyard, Miller and his men are approached by an Iraqi local calling himself Freddy (Khalid Abdalla, United 93) who comes running to tell them he has spotted renegade general Al-Rawi (one of top men in Saddam's army, played by Igal Naor) meeting with former high ranking officials in a nearby house.
Miller and company quickly rush to the suspected location only to miss the target by mere seconds. Not all is lost, however, as they capture one of Al-Rawi's operatives, who has much to reveal if properly coaxed.
This proves no easy task as two special forces choppers descend on the WMD recon team. The leader of this insertion team, a hardened soldier named Briggs (Harry Potter's Jason Isaacs, sporting a hairdo and moustache that makes him look like a Navy Seal Bruce Springsteen look-alike out for blood) announces he is taking their valued catch for interrogation, even punching out Miller for his troubles, before flying off with the suspect.
Our opinionated hero reports this to Pentagon official Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), he who is too busy desperately seeking to cover up any hindrances to the effective establishment of unquestioned democracy by American hands in Iraq. A veteran CIA officer named Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson, also of the Harry Potter films) hopes to recruit Miller to his cause, that of finding ways to expose the false claims of WMDs in Iraq as a sham and ill-advised excuse for deploying forces yet anew.
When it looks clear that Miller is making progress in discovering the American government's hidden agenda, Poundstone declares Miller a renegade solider. Can the determined hero find a way to expose the truth before he himself is taken down by his own people? Director Paul Greengrass tries to answer that question in this highly kinetic, fast-paced war thriller.
Overall Analysis of Green Zone
The first thing most viewers will notice is Greengrass' predilection for hand-held camera action. While the shaky movement of the lens isn't nearly as nauseating as The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield, this technique does add to the mood of most chase scenes found within the story, by making the audience feel like part of the action. This worked well enough in both of Greengrass and Damon's previous works together, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.
Some audience members left the theatre at a recent screening, grumbling that Green Zone wasn't anything like the Bourne movies. Indeed, there is much to be learned by properly reading a movie poster, when looking at the words "From The Director Of..." Greengrass has talent behind the lens and shows it once again, bringing another timely topic to the screen and commenting on the action while allowing viewers to join in on the excursion.
Matt Damon goes through the motions of his Miller character with determination, offering us a decent portrayal of a dedicated soldier who isn't satisfied with following blind orders, especially when said orders bear no fruit whatsoever. His character embodies the military question of whether a soldier should only follow orders without using common sense, instead pro-actively discussing whether said orders have any foundation in logic or advancement of a government's agenda.
Kinnear plays the pencil pushing antagonist Poundstone with calculated glee, but his role doesn't convincingly come off the screen, resulting in a flat performance. Ditto with Gleeson, who seemed to echo Ray Winstone's secretive character in Edge of Darkness but with nowhere as much gravitas.
Be warned, Green Zone is a solid war thriller which shouldn't be compared to recent Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker. While both deal with military presence in Iraq, Green Zone is more action-based, whereas Kathryn Bigelow's nail-biting thriller had a more psychological edge to it.
The Final Word on Green Zone
This film contains a well mixed dose of mystery, intrigue, action and political drama. Damon brings credibility to each scene, acting as the audience's proxy in a story which will still strike a chord while American forces continue to exert a presence in the Middle East. If anything, Green Zone will entertain while also providing watercooler discussion material about any superpower's foreign policy and its repercussions on a host country's history and heritage.
3 out of 5 for being a decent Matt Damon vehicle, a thought-provoking subject and a very kinetic film. Minus points for flat supporting characters.
Dominic Messier - Dominic Messier is a Toronto-based Film & TV writer, Sci-Fi TV and Film Dramas Topic Editor, and creator of PopCultureLandscape.com
