Green Zone
Director Paul Greengrass's and Matt Damon's previous collaborations on The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum brought a fresh and invigorating twist to the spy thriller, perhaps even out-doing 007 himself. Employing a shaky-camera approach to filming action sequences (which has, unfortunately, been aped by everyone from JJ Abrams to Michael Bay) and innovative close-up angles, Greengrass brought a breathless realism to the final two-thirds of the Bourne trilogy.
This is Damon's and Greengrass's third film together, and it is clear they are on familiar territory: shaky cameras are used from the get-go the trailers portrayed this film as Jason Bourne goes to Iraq, but in reality they have a much more engaging thriller on their hands here. I only hope that this angle on the story didn't put too many people off, as the plot is top-notch and the script deftly written.
It is 2003, in the relatively early days of the Iraq war. The invasion is completed and Saddam Hussein's regime has been deposed. Iraq is liberated, and now all that remains is to keep the peace and find the Weapons of MAss Destruction (WMDs). Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) is the likeable, competent soldier in charge of one of the many teams following up leads on possible storage sites for WMDs. With lead after lead failing to reveal any WMDs — and each one of them representing a dangerous mission — Miller begins to doubt the quality of the intelligence; his superiors, however, are adamant that the intelligence is good and that the leads must continue to be followed up. Clark Poundstone (excellently played by Greg Kinnear), President George Bush's envoy to Iraq, in particular, suggests quite forcefully that the intelligence is not to be questioned.
Enter Brendan Gleeson as CIA agent Martin Brown, an example of that rare species: the competent, likeable, honest, helpful and useful CIA agent. He tells Miller what he already knows deep down: that there won't be any WMDs at the next site either. No one is surprised when he is proved correct, but at the site Miller's company is approached by an Iraqi man called Freddy (Khalid Abdalla) offering information about a meeting of the underground remainder of Hussein's military regime. When the tip-off proves accurate, Miller finds himself drawn into a plot that has deceived the American people and their allies, and he is soon in the unenviable position of being hunted by his own soldiers and dealing with Freddy's divided loyalties. Amy Ryan, who excelled in 2007's Gone Baby Gone, is criminally under-used in her role as a Washington Post journalist investigating the WMDs' story.
The plot is one of the more intelligent thrillers that has been released in recent months, weaving fact and fiction seamlessly and believably, and boasting some impressive twists and natural dialogue; this is not merely a popcorn movie that all but requires you to turn off your brain. Greengrass's close-up shots and shaky camera work again enhance the action sequences rather than detracting from them. It's all too easy to over-do the camera shake and quick cuts, resulting in a confusing action sequence.
Sadly, this is what happens in the climactic action sequence. In conjunction with everything else in the scene being so big — big explosions, big chases, big military hardware, etc. — and in contrast to everything that has led up to it, this sequence feels out of place and over-blown. It takes the gloss off an otherwise excellent production and leaves me dissatisfied with the film as a whole.
The benefit of hindsight gives us a wonderful perspective on the film, with more than one opportunity to ponder "what if…?". There is much here in plot and action to suit many different cinema-going persuasions, and offers much more than "Bourne in Iraq". Not to be missed.
