Green Zone

Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Yigal Naor, Amy Ryan, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Khalid Abdalla
Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama, War
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An American soldier (Matt Damon) in Iraq is tasked to find the Weapons of Mass Destruction that launched the war. When every search turns up empty, he teams with a CIA agent (Brendan Gleeson) and a reporter (Amy Ryan) to find the truth, while being blocked by a politician (Greg Kinnear) with his own agenda.

Review:

Tim: As I've said before, I have a strange feeling toward Iraq War movies. On the one hand, I'm pretty tired of them, so it makes it difficult to get excited about them. However, I also respect the growing subgenre, and when done well, the movies can be pretty powerful. Nothing about this movie jumped out at me originally, but I have to admit that Paul Greengrass and company have a crafted a solid action drama here. While this is a fictionalized account of mostly true events, it shows us a new side to the Iraq War that we haven't really seen on screen before. While I don't love this movie, I admit that it is a good one.

Matt Damon is quite good as Roy Miller. He brings a respect for the role and intelligence to the part, so it is easy to identify with him and root for him. He makes a believable soldier, and I completely bought his search for the truth. Damon is really the major part of this movie, and his performance lends credibility to the entire film. He has really become such an impressive actor, and he furthers that reputation here.

The supporting cast is good, too. Greg Kinnear is quite good as the mysterious politician with secrets of his own. I loved the very brief scene between Kinnear and Damon (it made me think of Stuck on You), but I wish these two actors had more time together on screen. I was also happy to see Brendan Gleeson. Gleeson has a knack for picking good movies, and any movie automatically becomes classier with him in it. I really think he's one of the most underrated actors out there. I also enjoyed Amy Ryan, but wish she had more to do. I was also impressed with Yigal Naor and Khalid Abdalla, both who played important Iraqis very convincingly.

Paul Greengrass has really found his niche with this very realistic, gritty movies. His United 93 was a near masterpiece, and still perhaps my favorite 9/11-Iraq War related movie. His wisely uses real soldiers to up the realism in this film, and some of the shaky camerawork almost gives this a documentary-type feel. It certainly isn't, but you really feel like you are there in the midst of the action.

While this is an important movie that touches on some difficult questions about the Iraq War, I don't particularly think Greengrass made an especially accessible movie. Sure, people longing for more Bourne-type action would probably check this movie out, but there is very little here to appeal too much to a wider audience. Greengrass uses this movie to make a political point, but I wish he would have spent a bit more time on making this more entertaining. The intellectual exercise is fine, but this movie is all too easy to shake off.

Green Zone isn't a particularly memorable or powerful film, but it is certainly interesting. Greengrass creates some exciting, suspenseful action sequences, and there are quite a few thrilling moments. Damon is good, as usual. While there is a lot to like here, I still felt like this movie never really did anything to set itself apart from the other Iraq War movies. I was entertained, to an extent, but I still wanted much more. This is a good movie, but eventually will fade into this subgenre and be harder and harder to recall.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: United 93, The Kingdom, The Hurt Locker, The Bourne trilogy, Rendition