John says:

The tandem Matt Damon and Paul Grengrass hardly astonishes in Green Zone, a skilful action film a little too simplistic being held in Iraq. A nice starting idea which is long in being concretized.

In 2003, the American army unloads in Iraq in order to save the people of the mode of Saddam Hussein. The officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) is charged to discover massive destruction weapons. Out, he does not find any. His superiors (Greg Kinnear) want to hear nothing and the soldier must go back on the battle field. He benefits from making allies among the local population and the English new arrivals (of which Brendan Gleeson), while questioning the work methods of an influential journalist (Amy Ryan).

Following the triumph of the solid The Hurt Locker with the last Academy Awards ceremony, the feature film under bottom of the war in Iraq is not likely to delay. The first is an adaptation of a test of Rajiv Chandrasekaran by the talented Paul Grengrass. Faithful to his practices, the British scenario writer camps his intrigue in zone of high voltage, which enables him to recreate absolute chaos while having resorts to a trembling camera and ceaseless sound effects which do not leave any respite with the sight and hearing.

Arriving just after episodes 2 and 3 of Jason Bourne – probably two of more exciting and vibrating muscular works of the last decade -, Green Zone feels the need to push back the kind by offering a history which leaves the beaten paths. Indeed, the premise is original and committed in its way of being interested in the recent facts and to show how the Iraqi conflict possibly began on untrue bases, while raising the journalistic work which well was not always carried out.

However, this synopsis seems sometimes only a pretext to accumulate the explosions and the speeches moralizers. These many and attractive topics are approached on the surface within a setting in spectacular but a little vain and repetitive scenes, which states clearly upon the departure which are the nice ones and the malicious ones. There is thus more no suspense to follow this slightly monolithic hero on the edges which does not make it possible Matt Damon to deploy his talent. It is rather the secondary actors who affirm themselves in spite of often limited roles. The too perfect Greg Kinnear should have appeared more often, Brendan Gleeson makes only figuration and the character of Amy Ryan is not always well encircled, except that in the passing it is possible to discover several talented actors (as Khalid Abdalla) who burn the screen.

Paul Grengrass is possibly the best scenario writer of planet when comes time to work out a scene of action. They are even the moments more removing his last realization. But between two active sequences which hold in breath, there is a too simplistic intrigue which makes in the higher bid of pyrotechnics. What to bring strongly Green Zone closer to unequal and forgettable Body of Lies by Ridley Scott. Especially that in spite of the brilliance of this technical demonstration, it is finally only about a Jason Bourne in the army, in much less captivating and convincing. Time is perhaps due to return to a project more personnal, him who offered in the past the brilliant Bloody Sunday and United 93.

Tani says:

If you found the Bourne movies to be exciting, you would surely love the Green Zone (2010) as well. The success of the previously mentioned films was because of the collaboration of the ever charming Matt Damon and the outstanding mind of Paul Greengrass. They again reunited to create a thrilling flick that was set during the post-war Iraq.

Captain Roy Miller, portrayed by Matt Damon, was assigned to be in charge for find the weapons of mass destruction in the country. Unfortunately, the information that they get turns out to be a fiasco. With every mission comes failure.

Because of this, Miller became very suspicious with such intelligence. In order to give answers to his own questions, he disregarded the intelligence given by Magellan and started to go after his own clues. Roy Miller eventually found himself in between major conspiracies.

Unfortunately, things got out of hand as the captain failed to realize that the conspiracy is way beyond his comprehension.

With the Green Zone (2010), the lead star Matt Damon still continued with have an image of an intelligent and philosophic guy which resulted to his success and nominations in the big screen. The Green Zone movie is also a thrilling conspiracy. However, it may take a while before this suspense unravels. But common sense will help you know where the story it flowing and how it would end.

The roles of Brendan Gleeson (played as Martin Brown) and Greg Kinnear (played as Clark Poundstone) also provided great support in the movie as well. But many would take notice how the director, Paul Greengrass, gave so much emphasis about the issue regarding the weapons of mass destruction. One would recognize that there is still so much fury if WMD’s are really present in Iraq or not. This was also reflected in the film, particularly at the latter part. In the Green Zone movie, the WMD became a major issue. At the same time, it almost threatened the mounting tension.

Overall, this dramatic and action-packed movie is not really bad at all. It can meet all the things that you expect from a man flick. You might just have a hard time watching or even feel nauseous because of the jerky movements of the hand-held camera. You can also find several scenes where you would feel tensed and even get anxious especially while Miller is in a deep trouble.

The post war in Iraq was very well recreated in this movie. And if you find the chase scenes from Greengrass’s movie to be impressive, you will find the same thing with the Green Zone (2010) as well. It is as if you are watching Jason Bourne again. The only difference is that he is now Roy Miller and working as a captain for the WMD department. The final act would take you holding at the edge of your seats. No wonder why Matt Damon is one of the nominees this coming Oscars. It has a solid and thrilling action that you can never get from any other movie.