Democracy Now

Searching for Truth and WMDs Gives Action-thriller an Effective Cliffhanger Edge
By
Morgan P Salvo

The Green Zone is what action movies are supposed to look like. A suspenseful, high voltage in-your-face action drama with a plausible scenario may be the best action flick I’ve ever seen. And if film editor Christopher Rouse doesn’t get an academy award for his work, there is no justice in this world.
With a factual premise, Green Zone sets into motion that a U.S. Army officer went rogue after discovering faulty intelligence and was instrumental in blowing the lid off the truth behind WMDs during the same year the media, Pentagon and the White House were declaring ‘mission accomplished.’ Based on nonfiction book by former Washington Post Baghdad chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran, "Imperial Life in the Emerald City”, the movie takes its cues from the ignorance and objectives that came from inside the Green Zone, a safety area including the old Republican Palace where American decision-makers were cut off from Iraqi reality.
Green Zone literally starts with a bang, depicting hyper-realistic shock and awe. The audience is thrown smack dab into the middle of sniper fire, and spends the rest of the flick trying to keep up with the frenetic pace. Army Chief Miller (Matt Damon) begins to doubt Pentagon “Intel” when his unit fails to find WMDs. This pits him against Defense Intelligence agent Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) and his mission to reshape Iraq into American-style democracy. CIA Station-Chief Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) cryptically gives Miller a hand and Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan) asks him to search for a confidential source called "Magellan". Miller doesn't like what he hears, eventually moving from one clue, source or battle to the next. Thrown into the mix are an Iraqi cab driver turned-translator Freddy (Khalid Abdalla) and a hunt from all sides to find Al Rawi (Yigal Naor) aka “the Jack of Clubs” (from the terrorist card deck).

Green Zone explores media deceit and the Bush administration's willingness to embrace blatant lies over shadowy truths to sell the Iraq War to the American public but regardless of the huge political agenda it’s the unrelenting nail-biting race against time pace that drives this movie. By now it is common knowledge that the pretext of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction was a fabrication. The crux of this movie is what a soldier must do when he discovers that his mission is based on a lie. Bombarded from all sides Miller tries to stay one step ahead of the confusing and dangerous events that transpire.
Damon, in constant motion, draws every detail of the bedlam into his character’s trajectory. Damon’s range as an actor is getting more impressive every movie he makes. From comedy, action or intense drama, he always skillfully pulls it off. Kinnear does a superb job of being despicable and the always dependable Gleason is weirdly compelling. Naor seethes with mesmerizing intensity and Abdalla nails his tension filled pivotal role.

Director Paul Greengrass (Bourne Identity/United 93) amps his talent for raw, unrelenting, uncompromising cinema verite with spellbinding terseness, while cinematographer Barry Ackroyd turns locations in Spain, Morocco and the U.K. into a realistic Iraq, the chaos and devastating destruction vividly depicting Baghdad’s crumbling infrastructure. John Powell's heart pounding soundtrack propels this movie to insanely large heights as the stunts, chases, fights, avalanches of bullets, explosions and hit you full force.

The uncompromising vision traps us in this never ending war-zone-powder-keg of an espionage flick, bringing everything to the forefront, or as one officer says “Democracy’s messy, soldier.” The Iraq war has never been depicted with such realistic intensity, or edge-of-your-eat action. The last riveting intense chase scene had me literally slapping my knee--- it was filled with that much relentlessly over-the-top exhilaration. Green Zone has raised the bar. This film rocks.

The Green Zone
Starring Matt Damon, Brendon Gleason, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla
Directed by Paul Greengrass
 4 stars