Matt Damon in Green Zone
In Hollywood and in life, timing is everything. If you have two movies with similar subject matters, the second film released will always be compared to the first. A good example of this is the two Truman Capote movies that came out a few years ago. “Capote” won many accolades and landed Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar. “Infamous” is released several months after “Capote” and barely makes a ripple even though some felt it was a superior film.
“Green Zone” is in this delicate situation. “The Hurt Locker” cleaned up at this year’s Oscars. It resonated with people with the authenticity and the gripping tension of the war in Iraq. Now “Green Zone” comes along and pales in comparison even though the movies deal with different aspects of the war.
“Green Zone” picks up right after the war in Iraq commences in 2003. The hunt for WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) is on and is a top priority for the U.S. military. Part of the tension is erased because the audience knows that these weapons were never found. It handicaps the film when you already know the outcome.
Matt Damon reteams with director Paul Greengrass to play Roy Miller, a leader of a military unit searching for these elusive weapons. After failing to find anything again on a mission, Miller starts to have doubts on the intelligence.
One good thing that “Green Zone” has is a clever cat and mouse game. While Miller searches for more answers, Pentagon official Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) tries to rein him in. Kinnear can play these weaselly characters in his sleep. Once you see him on the screen, you pretty much know that he is up to no good. Greengrass may have been wiser to cast a more unknown actor for the part. It would have created a bit more mystery.
Poundstone knows the true answer to Miller’s questions and will stop at nothing to conceal it. CIA Middle East analyst Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) is right in the middle of this turf war. He wants to help Miller in any way to uncover the truth, but also doesn’t want to ruffle too many feathers in the military hierarchy. Adding another layer to the puzzle is Wall Street Journal writer Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), who first broke the news of the WMDs. Dayne relied on information fed to her by Poundstone of a mysterious source named Magellan.
Miller embarks on a quest to find General Al Rawi (Yigal Naor). He believes he may have the answers about the weapons and Magellan. Helping Miller in his mission is a local Iraqi named Freddy (Khalid Abdalla). The chase never gets the right amount of traction. You can see exactly where things are going and you won’t be surprised by what goes on. The thought of a rogue military officer seems more along the lines of Jason Bourne and Rambo then a true life account of what happened in Iraq. It just never rings true.
When you go to a Greengrass movie, you know beforehand that you will be treated to shaky camera work during the action scenes. Sometimes this effect is exciting, while other times it is just nauseating. I always felt it was used way too much in the two previous Bourne movies that Greengrass helmed. Here he uses the technique more judiciously. Still the action scenes fell flat and never resonated. The use of Morocco and Spain as the filming locations also lessened the impact of “Green Zone”. “The Hurt Locker” used Jordan and Kuwait and it felt more authentic.
Everything wraps up a bit too neatly in the end. The final shot of the oil rigs is too heavy handed even for a political movie like this. “Green Zone” has its moments of good intrigue, but falls short when it hits the battlefield.
Green Zone (2009)
Genre: Drama
Release Date: 3/12/2010 (Wide) (Showtimes and Tickets)
Studio: Universal Pictures
CAST & CREW:
Starring: Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Yigal Naor, Khalid Abdalla
Directed By: Paul Greengrass
Written By: Brian Helgeland based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Produced By: Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
