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RATING:  
SINGAPORE: The Greengrass/Damon pairing which has proved so successful in action thrillers "Bourne Supremacy" and "Bourne Ultimatum", makes a comeback in yet another action thriller "Green Zone", based on the hit non-fiction book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" about post-war Iraq.
In "Green Zone", Roy Miller (Matt Damon) leads of a squad of US soldiers looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Miller becomes frustrated when he consistently finds nothing at the sites pointed out by his superiors and begins to question the reliability of the information they are getting from an Iraqi source.
When he chances upon a meeting of top former Iraqi Army officials, he manages to arrest one and takes the chance to extract information about WMD sites from his prisoner. However, before he can get any information, US Special Forces spirit his prisoner away, leaving him with no leads on WMDs and doubt about his government's intentions.
Miller eventually allies himself with a veteran Central Intelligence Agency agent Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) to find and expose the truth about the WMDs as well as the US invasion of Iraq. Standing in his way is newly appointed US overseer of Iraq operations Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) who wants to gloss over the matter and install a Western-style democracy in war-torn Iraq, even if he has to shut down Miller to do it.
The plot would have been intriguing and current, if the film was released in say 2005, just shortly after the invasion of Iraq. But in this day and age, with the benefit of hindsight and revelations about the war, the plot for "Green Zone" is a little too predictable and you can sort of tell what the ending will be about a third of the way through the film, making it more of an action film and less of a thriller.
Damon does not break new ground in his role as Roy Miller but instead recalls what it was like in the "Bourne" films and appears to have adapted Jason Bourne to the scenario in "Green Zone" and simply added an annoying ultra-moralistic streak to turn him into Miller.
Gleeson constantly wears a slightly pained expression as Brown, even while he was dishing out words of wisdom to Damon's character. It was as if he has some sort of painful chronic condition. Veteran actor Kinnear's performance was also lackluster and failed to bring out the nuances of the villainous Poundstone.
While the acting is pretty average, the cinematography is excellent, especially when it comes to setting the scene and tone of the film. Sweeping panoramas of a post-war Iraq, well-composed shots of its alleys and iconic buildings, achieved with the help of visual effects, really immerses the audience in Miller's world. First person shots and convincing sets, complete with unruly Iraqi mobs, complete the illusion of being in chaotic post-war Iraq.
It is a pity the camerawork falters during the action scenes. There are way too many shaky camera shots that are disorienting and obscure the actual action. That is a big demerit considering that the frenetic action scenes are one of the main draws of this thriller, which features lots of gunplay and satisfying explosions.
If you liked Greengrass's earlier "Bourne" films, which weren't bad, you will probably enjoy this film. It is essentially more of the same, just with some real-life political references to the past controversy surrounding the US invasion of Iraq.
- CNA
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