Green Zone

If you're anything like me, you saw the trailers for "Green Zone" and thought it was either a sequel or prequel to the Bourne trilogy. It looked like it, felt like it - it had the smell of Bourne all over it. (I'm not sure what the actual smell of Bourne is, but I imagine it to be a combination of sweat, sea water, and awesome) Then I watched it.

Matt Damon stars as Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, whose job is to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq following the US invasion in 2003. Fruitless search after fruitless search (literally ... he doesn't even find an apple. How wrong is that?) getting shot at by ungrateful hostiles in scorching sand-choked heat on the orders of people who don't give a shit if you live or die would make anyone kinda pissy, and Miller is no different. He wants to know why the dudes in charge are so much stupider than him, where the weapons might actually be, and which bureaucratic douchebag needs a public flogging.

Greg Kinnear essentially plays Paul Bremer . I don't recall the character's name and I don't care - he's an asshole and you want to punch him in the throat every time he's on screen. His character's job is to serve as administrator of the chaos left behind in the wake of the initial military campaign. His motivations are impure, naive, and entirely about political positioning back in America. The function of this character is to represent the corrupt incompetence of the Bush administration and to give the audience someone to hate. Mission accomplished.

Brendan Gleeson is a cagey old CIA guy who knows everything about Kinnear's character is one giant flaming ball of bullshit and is out to redeem his own organization's tarnished image. I love Brendan Gleeson but he's wasted here. The role is all presence but no meat. He has some authority, but it's easily revoked. It seems like he's going to be a key figure, but really, the entire purpose of the character is to give Miller a chance to go places he would otherwise have no right to go.

Matt Damon is essentially playing Jason Bourne in military fatigues. The movie is directed by the same guy who directed the last 2 Bourne movies, and the style (hand held cameras, shakey running action shots, grainy as hell - this will look like shit on blu ray) is identical. Having said that, I LOVE the Bourne Trilogy. The frenetic pace, the steely determination and comfortable performance of Damon moves this along and I found myself completely invested in the story. Watch this movie. Enjoy this movie. Eat lots of popcorn and get fat while you do it. For those of you on the right of the political spectrum, be enraged by the flaming left wing slant and preachiness of the story. For those pussy left wing bleeding heart liberals, bask in the self righteous indignation and moral superiority of it all. For the unpolitical, watch lotsa stuff get blowed up and shot and stuff.

I give this a 7 out of 10