Potential is hard to judge. When you consider the pieces that makeup Green Zone, you have certain expectations. From star Matt Damon you expect some fights, maybe some wisecracks. From director Paul Greengrass you envision dazed visuals circling around intensity. Considering the duo’s work on the last two Jason Bourne films, you’d expect to see plenty of action too.
It’s 2003 and the United States has just invaded Iraq. Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller leads a team that puts their necks on the line trying to uncover weapons of mass destruction. Wouldn’t you know it, they can’t seem to find any. Miller inquires on the faulty nature of gathered intelligence and is met with resistance. Word is that everything comes from a single source known as Magellan and the only contact, Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), isn’t sharing. You can figure out what happens next.
Miller is a do-gooder with a hint of a pottymouth. Little time is spent exploring his character—this is a movie about chasing agendas and establishing authenticity. Helping with the latter is the casting of professionals. As with United-93 director Greengrass found people to play their real life professions for Green Zone. The practice is effective. Not to say that actors wouldn’t have sufficed.
Greengrass has trouble controlling the drawstring on his back of tricks. His unwavering shaky-cam artificially produces suspense when it isn’t needed. I never found the use for bobbing and weaving the camera during a battle sequence, but it’s even more perplexing to do the same during a poolside conversation. Throwing in unnecessary zooms compounds the issue. I know that the majority of the viewing audience has adapted and for some reason or another equates this maneuver as professional. I however believe it is preferable to make the action intelligible and leave dialog scenes uninterrupted by needless visual complexities.
The company you keep will determine the frequency you here of government conspiracies. I don’t know what that says of me since I wasn’t surprised in the slightest by any conclusion Green Zone reached. Maybe if you’ve been living under a rock in a cave on Mars, you’d be shocked.
The Green Zone is where Jason Bourne takes pit stops. There is action, sparingly. There is intrigue, if you can’t buy a clue. The things binding it are textbook-esque approaches. Get any star/director pair and give them something political, you’ll get a similar result: a competent underachievement. That’s not to say that Green Zone is bad. It has some good effects, the story may be simple but it’s not lined with holes (considering the setup), and performances exceed the material. It’s unfortunate that Green Zone doesn’t strive for more slightly above average. **½
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