Reviewed by Kate Rodger
Matt
Damon and Paul Greengrass know how to ratchet up the tension and just
like the Bournes before it, Green
Zone has its foot to the floor from opening to closing
credits.
It’s also aimed fairly and squarely at
the commercial box office heart of the millions of
Bourne fans, who will hand over their moolah
hoping to see Bourne 4, the one they’re unlikely
to get from this team.
In Green
Zone, Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting /
The Bourne Ultimatum) is Chief Warrant Officer Roy
Miller. He leads a team of soldiers whose mission it is to hunt down
“WMDs”, Weapons of Mass Destruction, in the early stages of the Iraq
War.
Things are not as they seem, the WMDS are
not where they’re told they are, and the people in charge are not who
we think they are.
The team behind Greengrass is
all class. Green Zone is written by the same man
who gave us LA Confidential and Mystic
River, and shot by the man who lensed The Hurt
Locker and United 93.
Damon
too is ridiculously convincing as Miller, assured in his surroundings
and right at home next to the real US Army veterans playing alongside
him.
The rest of the supporting cast is
top-notch. Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges /
Braveheart) is cool-headed CIA boss Martin Brown,
Oscar-Nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone /
Changeling) is war correspondent Lawrie Dayne, who
begins to nibble on the hand that feeds her.
Greengrass
bases his film on the best-selling nonfiction book Imperial
Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone. The
author is Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s, former Washington
Post Baghdad bureau chief, who reported first hand on the
weapons-inspection process.
Shot mostly in
Morocco, Greengrass sets his scene authentically, his signature up
close and personal hand-held shooting style gets the audience right in
amongst the action.
There’s no question Damon and
Greengrass deliver a thrilling ride here. The only question I do have,
is a question of identity. On the one hand Green
Zone sets out to be a commercial action thriller that just
happens to be set in Iraq. On the other, Greengrass bases his story on
real events, real conspiracies, and very real political issues
surrounding an ongoing conflict.
So is it
Bourne in Iraq, a popcorn-fuelled Weapon of Mass
Consumption, or is this a WMD addressed personally to George W?
I suspect Greengrass hopes it will be both.
Four stars.
Green Zone
:: Director: Paul Greengrass
:: Starring: Matt Damon and Amy Ryan
:: Running Time: 115 mins
:: Rating: M
:: Release Date: March 18, 2010
:: Trailer: Click here
