Green Zone
Director – Paul Greengrass
Starring – Matt Damon, Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, and Jason Issacs
MPAA: Rated R for violence and language
Director Paul Greengrass might have done a lot better here had he teamed up with Oscar winning Kathryn Bigelow director of the Hurt Locker. I have to compare the two films because both are Iraq War films, but one was far superior. The Green Zone is a decent film but from the get go fails to really establish a link between the audience and the characters. There is decent action, but rarely was I on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen. In The Hurt Locker Bigelow blows away her one A-list actor in the first 10 minutes, making viewers believe there is a chance that no one is going home in her film. Green Zone does not have that kind of suspense.
Greengrass does do a great job with his classic gritty swinging camera shots he made famous in the last two Bourne films. It makes the action a little chaotic but ads to the tension of the scenes; but compared to the second Bourne film the cameras in Green Zone were practically standing still, so sea sickness is not a problem at all for viewers. Also there is an interesting use of the night vision lighting that makes the picture very graining in some shots. This adds a gritty feel to the harsh condition of a bombed out Iraq.
The movie begins in 2003 as America bombs Baghdad at the beginning of the invasion on the pretence of Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction program. Matt Damon is a Chief Warrant Officer in the US Army charged with finding said weapons. It seems though that every piece of intel takes them to another empty site, void of any WMD (side note the acronym WMD was said so many times it almost got on my nerves, is there really no other way to say it?). The film turns into a manhunt for the mysterious Iraqi contact who knows the truth behind WMD in Iraq.
This plot twist puts Jason Issacs – whose vicious role as the British rebel hunter in “The Patriot” is comparable to this part in Green Zone as an angry and determined intelligence officer set on finding and killing this Iraqi leak – up against the more gentle Matt Damon, who wants to bring in the source and expose the lie about WMD. This could have been an interesting matchup of two brilliant actors, but there was little time to develop any characters in the film as most of the dialogue was shouted or whispered quickly over while actors ran through alleys, hurried down stairs, and rushed to important meetings. A little tension was built, but the lack of development kept me aloof as an audience member.
This movie makes you wonder about its use of British star power with American accents. Issacs and Gleeson (both with Harry Potter credits to their names) have good American accents, but it is the English accents that make them so much fun to watch. Issacs did an excellent job in his role as a sadistic soldier, but Gleeson seemed underused. He was not very interesting at all really. “The Office’s” Amy Ryan (Michael Scott’s HR rep and girlfriend Holly) has a bit part here, but doesn’t do much to add to the film either. Greg Kinnear does a decent job here, but again there is so little connection to the characters the filmmakers had to get popular names in order for the audience to have any emotional connection at all. Even Damon’s character was nothing out of the ordinary.
In brief Green Zone is a so-so war flick, that is really only worth a single viewing and even that viewing wasn’t all that interesting. I’ll give it a 6 out of 10 because while the filming was interesting and the plot was a unique take on the mystery behind our invasion of Iraq, the lack of connection with characters kept me from riding the emotional roller coaster I so enjoy when watching a movie.
Sex/Nudity – 1 out of 10 – We see some men and women in bathing suits at a swimming pool and a lady in a slightly cleavage revealing shirt.
Violence/Gore – 7 out of 10 – Violence in this film is very PG-13. I would have no problems having my teenager watch this film as far as violence and gore goes. There is a lot of shooting, but relatively little gore accompanying it. It is a tasteful war movie free from the splattering blood found in most films of its genre. There are a few gun fights, some people get gunned down, there is a little bit of splattering blood.
Profanity – 30 to 40 F-words with about 30 other obscenities including 10 religious obscenities.
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