Opening Day: 11 March 2010

Synopsis:

Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne Supremacy," "The Bourne Ultimatum," "United 93") re-team for their latest electrifying thriller in "Green Zone," a film set in the chaotic early days of the Iraqi War when no one could be trusted and every decision could detonate unforeseen consequences.

During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that inverts the purpose of their mission.

Spun by operatives with intersecting agendas, Miller must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence hidden on foreign soil for answers that will either clear a rogue regime or escalate a war in an unstable region. And at this blistering time and in this combustible place, he will find the most elusive weapon of all is the truth.

Movie Review:

The America versus Iraqi war issue continues in this Matt Damon’s starrer thus viewers who are yet accustomed to heavy political-theme movies and the war on terror do beware before stepping into the "Green Zone".

Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer, Roy Miller who gets increasingly frustrated with the wrong intel his team has been getting about the actual locations of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in a story set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Now Miller is not just a hands-on specialist bent on accomplishing his mission but a thinking soldier as well. Together with a CIA agent, Gordon Brown (Brendan Gleeson), they seek to find the truth behind the cover-up by a rogue Pentagon officer, Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) and the only feasible solution is to track down the whereabouts of an ex-Iraqi General named Al Rawi who has provided the information on the WMDs to the Pentagon prior to the invasion.

The premise of "Green Zone" is loosely based on the 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, an assistant editor of the Washington Post who spent two years reporting from the green zone, a walled-off heavily guarded area for the American authorities who are working to dictate the future of Iraq. While Chandrasekaran’s book is a journalised account of all the idealisms by young scholars to dream up various possibilities to shape a country, Greengrass and screenwriter Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3) took an obvious swipe at the incompetency of the Bush administration and using the character of Roy Miller to unravel a series of conspiracy and the butterfly effects of the war on ordinary Iraqis.

Is it noble for the Americans and ally to invade Iraqi on the pretext of removing a tyrant and his WMDs? And does it benefits the people as assumed where in actual fact even the basic needs of food and water and fear of lawlessness is largely ignored after the invasion? These questions and many more are raised in the movie, subtly or not. There’s even an amusing inclusion of a past news footage of ex-President George Bush declaring victory as proof of purchase. Perhaps it’s the sensitiveness of the subject on hand that the movie which was completed in 2008 only gets a release date after America welcomed her first African-American president.

Nevertheless, under the direction of Greengrass, "Green Zone" moves rapidly and throws you right into the chaos with his trademark shaky cams. The action while not necessary raised an eyebrow or two is pulse-pounding and given Greengrass’ expertise in The Bourne series, the movie is definitely in safe hands.

We wanted to see more of Brendan Gleeson and Greg Kinnear biting each other’s heads off but sadly their screentime is limited, an almost unrecognizable Jason Isaacs turns up as a veteran soldier stationed in Iraq who is assigned by Poundstone to counteract Miller. Our leading man, Matt Damon has no doubt proven his acting chops in movies such as "The Departed" and "Invictus". With the role of Roy Miller, Damon once again shows the audience he is not just born to play Jason Bourne but rightly carries the weight of a trained, US marine too.

Watching "Green Zone" reminds one of The Bourne series though without Moby supplying a song to play to the end credits. It’s a wild kinetic thrill-ride right from the start with unbelievable on location shoots (which took place in Morocco, Spain and the UK) that resembles the real thing. If you find other similar Iraq war inspired movies for example "Lions for Lambs" and "Rendition" dry and preachy, "Green Zone" will gives you a much adrenalin rush peppered with substance and great performance. This is firmly Greengrass’s stand on the Iraq war. Take it or leave it.

Movie Rating:



(Welcome to the Green Zone where 115 minutes of action and intelligence resides)

Review by Linus Tee