Green Zone isn’t entirely what most people are expecting. It’s not Bourne 4, as people joke, and it’s not non-stop action. Is there action? Absolutely, and it’s handled masterfully in the way you’d expect from a pro like Paul Greengrass. In the end though, this isn’t an action movie. It’s a sharp, smart and very effective conspiracy thriller.
To get this out of the way early on, there’s one major flaw that holds Green Zone back from being a truly great film. At times, it’s quite heavy handed and loses sight of subtlety when it needs it the most. While it’s not scene after scene of pandering, there’s still a handful of moments that hit you over the head. There’s a specific moment towards the end that displays this. Without spoiling much, it involves someone getting shot and the shooter explaining himself. You know why the person did it, the meaning behind it and yet Greengrass goes on to let him explain why. Scenes similar to that are scarce, but are at times quite bothersome. That said, everything else about this film is top notch.
It’s 2003 and the search for weapons of mass destruction is hot. Apart of this search is Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon). Miller is growing frustrated with every site he’s sent to. Him and his men have found nothing. Miller believes that the intel must be wrong and, unsurprisingly, it is. After being led to a secret meeting that involves one of Saddam Hussein’s top generals, one Al Rawi (Yigal Naor), Miller finds himself pulled into a situation that goes way over his pay cut, as one character plainly states – yes, that line is in almost every movie like this. During all this he’s mainly assisted by a competent and old school government official named Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson); Miller and Brown work together to try to track down Al Rawi while also on the lookout for the man who’s feeding them all the bogus intel.
Unlike the past two Bourne films, this doesn’t play out as set piece after set piece. While it worked greatly in those films, mostly because of Greengrass, this is a much more lean and cut dry story. If you don’t pay attention to every minute, you’ll most likely miss a thing. If you actually pay attention, you’ll be greatly rewarded. It moves along at an extremely brisk pace and, for the most part, everything feels fleshed out. There may be a subplot of two that feels a bit half-baked, especially the one with Amy Ryan as a journalist, but it still never throws off the pacing and never feels dull.
This is rather simple storytelling. There’s a few twists here and there, all effective, but it’s a fairly standard narrative. It begins with action and it ends with action, as expected.
It’s become a cliche to say Damon is great, because he always is. He’s likable and always believable. Casting a known actor in a film like this always brings baggage. There’s the obvious issue of pre-conceptions i.e. the hero will live. Damon has an indescribable way of avoiding this. He makes you feel the danger Miller is in. He comes off as if he’s in actual peril. Plenty of actors are incapable of achieving that, Damon is uncanny in this respect. It also helps that he’s supported by an array of some of the best working actors today: Gleeson, Greg Kinnear and the always good Jason Isaacs. While Isaacs gets a little underutilized considering how excellent he is in the lovable and typical jerk role, he makes every minute count. Even Kinnear takes a standard caricature and crafts him into an actual character. He plays that “slimy government official.” You’ve seen him before, but Kinnear does it well. Gleeson is great as always, charming and yet intimidating.
As stated before, there are a few action sequences and they’re handled perfectly. Saying that, one’s enjoyment of them will all depend on their past history with Greengass. If you’re one that appreciates the raw gritty shaky cam style, then you’ll be glad to know that intense frantic style stamp of his is present. On the other hand, if you’re one of those people who find it incomprehensible and jarring then your feelings on Greengrass’s style wont budge. It’s intense and raw, similar to the overall tone of the film. Similar to his past work, Greengrass makes one feel the intensity that his characters are going through. It’s as if it’s a POV. You’re transported into his world of chaos and disorder. It’s exhilarating and always entertaining. Not many directors can pull off that rush of sensation.
Is Green Zone an excellent film? For the most part, yes, but it’s not quite a great film because of some of its heavy-handedness. Even in despite of that, it’s difficult not to embrace Green Zone for its greater ambitions.