Green Zone (2010)

A Masterpiece!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Matt Damon, master actor! Paul Greengras, master director!

Having absolutely adored the previous two collaborations between star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, I was more than pumped to get hold of this follow-up, a war-based thriller set during the days when the west still believed that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. This turns out to be a solid, thought-provoking film; it can't hold a candle to BOURNE, but then it doesn't want to – it's a different beast entirely! Instead, it tackles the complicated situation of American intelligence in Iraq, throwing in seemingly disparate elements like a crippled Iraqi patriot, one of Saddam's top generals, a shady high-level operative and a gruff CIA boss. Once the plot strands come together the film explodes into life, with the last section a pulse-pounding journey through the narrow streets of Iraq with bullets and explosions going off all over the place.Greengrass is in his element with this kind of movie. His direction is sound as ever, with particularly well handled action bits and interesting exposition, too. Damon seems an odd choice at first for the soldiery central role but he turns out to be a god send in the part – very human, very flawed, but a man whose stubborn nature will see him through. There's a trio of meaty supporting roles for the likes of character actors Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, and Greg Kinnear and some very decent turns from the Arab actors as well.As for the plot…watching feels a little weird, as in retrospect every viewer will know that there were never any WMDs, so Damon's surprise on discovering this is a little muted. Still, I found the handling of the characters to be particularly moving, especially Freddy and also the general, guys who genuinely love their country and will do anything to see peace restored. Who'd think you'd end up moved by a war-based thriller set during the invasion of Iraq?

This movie is based on the non-fiction book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" that documented life in the Green Zone in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq invasion. I never read the book so I don't know how much truth is behind the film but I am impressed at how critical it is of the American society. The plot revolving around a non-existent WMD (weapon of mass destruction) is suspenseful. I really like the raw and truthfulness of the film.Two quotes stuck with me from this film: 1) Freddy to Miller: "It is not for you to decide what happens here." I think that's like a reality check. (Speaking in the context of the film) The Americans were too caught up with power and the idea they were doing a good thing because democracy is good to really care of the sufferers, the locals.2) General Al Rawi to Miller: "Your government wanted to hear the lie, Mr. Miller...". For some reason this really stuck me as the truth of our actual society and the whole point of the movie.

(55%) A simply plotted early days of the Iraq war movie that doesn't dig too deep into politics and media edited history unlike the rather tiresome "Zero dark thirty", but rather tells its story in a much more manageable and believable manner. I don't really care much for Greengrass' style of direction, and I never have, as it can detract from whatever's going on which for me is a big no-no, but here it's not overly distracting. And with the plot being pretty basic to say the least the action is allowed to just get on with it, resulting in some quite exciting moments set around a realistic setting. Overall not a bad little movie by any means, just not something I'd want to pay money to watch.