Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring; Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear & Khalid Abdalla
A fast paced and gripping wartime thriller that while make a few obvious statements and accusations about the way in Iraq but is nevertheless an enjoyable action film.
Having already dramatised real life conflicts several times before and receiving critical acclaim for doing so with films like Bloody Sunday and United 93 and also achieving commercial acclaim with the action packed thrillers The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, Paul Greengrass reunites with his Bourne star Matt Damon in creating Green Zone, a wartime thriller portraying a fictionalised account about the initial search for WMDs at the start of the Iraq War and based on the non-fiction accounts of journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Telling the story from the perspective of a soldier instead of a journalist, Greengrass effectively builds an action thriller that combines elements of United 93 with his Bourne films into a gripping film.
It is 2003 and the Iraq War is in its early days, assigned the task of locating WMDs in Iraq using intelligence provided by a secret Iraqi source, Officer Roy Miller (Damon) is finding himself constantly frustrated by being unable to locate any at the sites to which his team are being deployed and is finding himself questioning the value of the source providing the intelligence. Finding his attempts to raise questions on the matter shot down by his peers and by a senior political advisor named Clark Poundstone (Kinnear), Miller finds encouragement from a CIA official that there is something wrong with the intelligence on WMDs leading Miller to go rogue to uncover the truth with the help of an Iraqi native named Freddie (Abdalla) who had earlier tipped Miller off to a meeting involving an Iraqi general in hiding named Al-Rawi who Poundstone has a keen interest in locating and silencing before Miller can. What is the truth about WMDs in Iraq and can Miller make a difference to the outcome of the war even if he finds out?
Moving at an incredibly fast pace, opening with a raid in the middle of Iraq and quickly moving from one action set piece to another, Green Zone moves rapidly without allowing for much time to rest. When it does stop, it does so for the purposes of evaluating the information Roy Miller has uncovered so far before directing him in the direction of where he needs to go next to find answers. At a glance this may seem like a way to gloss over the details of the plot in favour of the action except the effect is quite satisfying with the underlying truth behind WMDs and the reasons for the war, in Green Zone at least, is thoroughly engaging despite us knowing the outcome in regards to WMDs and it playing upon long standing suspicions by the public as to the motives for the war. In between the blistering action sequences employing the handheld style Greengrass became popular for with the Bourne films, the moments of commentary on the reasons behind and effects of the Iraq War particularly for the Iraqi people themselves is enjoyable if somewhat too obvious and simplistic at times (Kinnear’s political advisor being overly untrustworthy and bearing a name like Poundstone for example) and also leaving some characters too undeveloped to feel important to the story such as Amy Ryan’s journalist.
Matt Damon reunites with Greengrass for Green Zone. While the role of Roy Miller is not one to test Damon’s acting abilities, Damon is still a reliable leading man convincing in his depiction of Miller’s determination and Damon carries the action and the drama well. Kinnear is fine as the untrustworthy Poundstone and Brendan Gleeson is enjoyable in a small role as a CIA advisor and the one character that already sees the reality of where the conflict is coming from and heading to. Amy Ryan tries to make the most of her role as a reporter but struggles to make an impression while Khalid Adballa (who worked with Greengrass on United 93) certainly does impress as the Iraqi civilian Freddie who gets drawn into Miller’s mission reluctantly but whose presence provides the voice of the Iraqis in the conflict with Abdalla giving them a sympathetic face and voice in one of the film’s pivotal roles.
Green Zone is a highly enjoyable action thriller. It may leave some characters and details underdeveloped but it still raises some interesting, if obvious, questions in a satisfying manner making the film more intelligent than some cinematic attempts to cover the current conflicts and Green Zone certainly bolsters this with some tense, gripping action sequences.
Rating: 3/5
