Green Zone is nothing like the Green Zone level in Sonic the Hedgehog!

Green Zone - Paul Greengrass

Touted as being a Jason Bourne rip-off with obvious political meanings, Matt Damon’s summer blockbuster of the year Green Zone, which was somewhat under the radar when released, arrives on DVD this month, and here is a review that may shock you. I liked the film. Many people are slamming this film, calling it boring, political, predictable ending, a poor script and mediocre acting, but i think it’s a rather good action film steeped in modern warfare involving issues that have not been explored in cinema lately. We’ve all seen films that parade war to be bad, to be worthless and scream the hidden meaning that every war is pointless. Yes, i totally agree that war is unnecessarily in most situations, where violence isn’t needed, but here the WMD argument, if there really was Weapons of Mass Destruction, and if the American army really needed to invade Iraq to find these weapons or if it was a ruse just to take control of the country. Talking about a subject that has made massive presence in the media in the past, well the last ten years or so since 9/11, it’s a subject that i know a little information about but not entirely sure of. I haven’t researched the subject, but I’ve just picked up a thing here and there.

The plot of Green Zone follows Matt Damon who plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller who is in Iraq investigating places where WMD’s are said to be, where intelligence has pinpointed areas which are “hot”. After going to these places and finding nothing of the sort, Miller begins to question the intelligence. And from there, the whole plot unravels, revealing bad intelligence, hidden meanings behind the war and dodgy connections in the army and the CIA. It starts off slow but slowly builds up having scenes of action involving shoot outs and the team searching the areas to then cutting to the heads of the departments talking, trying to figure out what’s going on. Through in a storyline involving a reporter who leaks the information about WMD’s existing, you soon begin to understand that maybe WMD’s never existed and that Iraq was invaded for other reasons. It has a great ending and a great end set piece involving Miller going rogue, finding one of the last Iraq Army higher ups and trying to help him. Some great acting by support cast Amy Ryan, Brendan Gleeson and Greg Kinnear, but Matt Damon clearly steals the show, being this is a Matt Damon vehicle.

Many people may argue that this is a Bourne 4 with political meanings, but i don’t think it is. Bourne films are more about the action and the chase, here it’s more about the overall image, and action only occurs when it’s needs to to further the story. So go check it outs, it’s worth a watch.

7/10

Simon Childs