Review: Green Zone

Grade: B+

Shortly after the war with Iraq stars, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller is the leader of the task force set up to find the Weapons of Mass Destruction. After the third site that they hit where they are informed that there are WMDs turns up empty, Miller starts to question the sources the military are using. He finds out that the military is getting their information from a source code-named "Magellan". At the same time, a local Iraqi citizen tips him off about a meeting between many of Saddam's men nearby. Miller goes rogue in order to figure out who "Magellan" is, what the truth about WMDs is and tries to find a way to prevent all hell from breaking loose in Iraq.

I didn't know how to feel about this movie going into it but it really surprised me. I will admit, it almost comes off as a prequel to the Bourne trilogy. It is directed by Paul Greengrass, who directed Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum, it stars Bourne himself, Matt Damon, and it is about a man in a special task force who goes rogue to find out answers for himself. But, Green Zone is an exciting thriller that takes place in the early days of the Iraq war and presents some interesting questions as to why we went to Iraq. Greengrass uses his unique, almost documentary style-esque, hand-help camera technique that he has used in his previous films that really makes this interesting to watch. Only downside is that there are some scenes where the camera is so shaky you can't really tell what is going on.

Matt Damon (Invictus, The Informant) plays the lead role of Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller. Matt Damon was really enjoyable in this movie and he did a great job portraying his characters determination to discover the truth. Greg Kinnear (Ghost Town, Little Miss Sunshine) plays Clark Poundstone, a man from the Pentagon who handles the source known as "Magellan". Kinnear did a great job as this man who you just hate and can tell is hiding something. Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) plays Martin Brown, a man from the UN who is suspicious of the source as well and chooses to help Officer Miller. Gleeson gives a great performance as usual in this. Amy Ryan (Dan in Real Life, Gone Baby Gone) plays Lawrie Dawn, a writer with the Wall Street Journal who exchanges information with Miller when she can. She did a pretty good job with this smallish role.

Green Zone is a very enjoyable war thriller that most people will be able to enjoy. Although I have a feeling that W haters and conspiracy theorists will probably enjoy it the most.