Green Zone

Is it just me, or does Matt Damon always get the action-suspense roles? Although he doesn't do any of his Jason-Bourne-secret-agent-bone-breaking-super moves, the overall feel of this movie is the same as his spy thrillers, despite being a war film. Must be the adrenaline.

But come to think of it, I don't think this is a war film. It's more of a conspiracy theory set in Iraq. None of that Band of Brothers camaraderie here. At least The Hurt Locker had a semblance of army life. This film just used the army as a backdrop. It's more of a detective whodunit flick. But I'm not saying it didn't work. It did. It was engrossing.

Matt Damon may be too pop, but he's a good actor.

Brendan Gleeson may be too common, but he's a good actor as well.

Greg Kinnear may be too comedic, but he's surprisingly dramatic here.

Director Paul Greengrass may be a relative unknown (at least to me), but he does a good job here. All the hand-held shots make it feel like a genuine documentary of a war zone.

By the way, don't let the title deceive you. There is nothing environmental about this movie. At all. The Green Zone refers to that part of Iraq under Coalition Provisional Authority. So don't expect any climate change topics, as this film was set in 2003.


*some info from IMDb and Wikipedia
pic from altfg.com


Green Zone. France/USA/Spain/UK. 2010.


Rating: Seven and a half out of ten.