High-energy political action-thriller

Set your mind back to the year 2003 for a moment, when the invasion of Iraq commenced. Highest levels of American government offered assurances the invasion was a necessity in order to remove the clear and present danger presented by Sadaam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (or WMDs, as they're more commonly referred to). In 2010, seven years after the initial invasion, the full truth remains murky, but it's indisputable that there were no WMDs, and the intelligence that implicated their existence was faulty. Whether this intelligence failure was the consequence of lies or deliberately manipulated information has been subject to much speculation, and Paul Greengrass' latest motion picture, Green Zone, revisits the question of why America went to war in the form of a high-energy political action-thriller. In the past, Greengrass has helmed two "issue" movies (Bloody Sunday, United 93) and two popcorn actioners (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum), and Green Zone represents a merger of these two styles which reunites the director with Bourne star Matt Damon.

Damon plays U.S. Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, whose job is to track down the WMDs in the newly liberated Iraq. Frustration is setting in, however, because Miller's team are being sent to empty and worthless sites of little worth, and casualties have been absorbed in the process. Bureaucrat Clark Poundstone (Kinnear), who represents the Bush administration in Iraq, asserts that the WMD intelligence is correct, but Miller thinks otherwise. Smelling a rat, he begins asking questions and gradually starts to unravel an elaborate conspiracy involving every layer of government. With help from sympathetic CIA chief Gordon Brown (Gleeson), Miller goes rogue in an attempt to uncover the elusive, uncomfortable truth behind the WMD mystery.

Slowly but surely, director Greengrass amplifies the tension as the tangled web of sinister Pentagon agents, CIA bureaucrats, Iraqi security forces, and Miller himself converge on a shadowy source known only as "Magellan". This is not black-and-white politics; Miller is wading in murky waters during the proceedings, where heroes and villains aren't as easily defined or identified as they once were. Formerly, Miller was a soldier who took orders and carried out the duties assigned to him, but he becomes faced with shifting sands and tough choices. At one stage he asks Gordon "I thought we were all on the same side?" to which Gordon replies with "Don't be naïve". Green Zone is perhaps the most anti-American portrayal of the Iraq War so far.

Although Rajiv Chandrasekaran's novel Imperial Life in the Emerald City is attached to the film, Green Zone is not a straight-up adaptation of it. Greengrass and scenarist Brian Helgeland (Payback, L.A. Confidential) employed background information from the book, but the bones of the plot are almost entirely fictitious. In this way, Helgeland has crafted a fictional story using non-fictional elements, and it manages to interweave fact and fiction into an engaging whole. A key factor in distinguishing Chandrasekaran's novel from Greengrass' film is that the book was unafraid to name names and point fingers, whereas the film opts for fictionalised alter-egos.

Without a doubt, Green Zone is an energetic thriller crafted with impressive zeal by Greengrass. The tension levels start out high, and seldom relent throughout the picture's gripping two-hour running time. Greengrass' career began in journalism, for which he filmed war zones like those within this film, and there's no doubt his signature in-your-face style is a tremendous asset. Barry Ackroyd, who also worked as cinematographer on the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, provides the same brand of hand-held immediacy here. The shaky cinematography ratchets up the urgency and amplifies the sense of chaos during the intense action sequences, while John Powell's score further augments the atmosphere and sustains the suspense. Much of the film is about the tense, hair-raising dangers of war, but the climax is a spectacular action set-piece - an exhilarating, thoroughly nail-biting night-time chase through the dark streets of Baghdad. Stuff is blown up and people are shot, and Greengrass places viewers in the thick of it. The photography, which is so often called ugly, is so crucial for instilling a sense of realism, especially the graininess of the visuals. It's possibly to truly feel like you're part of the scene, rather than an innocent bystander tucked safely away in an isolated theatre.

What Green Zone fails to offer, however, is characterisation. Miller is never developed as a flesh-and-blood human - he's instead an underdeveloped protagonist used to progress the plot from point to point. Ditto for the roles allotted to Gleeson and Kinnear - we know what they're up to, but not the why of their actions. The film is merely a slice of life portrayal without flashbacks or deep discussions, but it's not enough. Also, it's undeniable that the narrative of Green Zone is very surface-level, and simplifies the politics of the Iraq War into a very basic narrative structure. Sure, it works, but it could've been superior with more depth.

Anyone who has previously seen a Matt Damon performance should not be surprised at how perfect he is for the role of Roy Miller. Possessing a similar moral fortitude as Jason Bourne (a character no doubt Miller will be compared to) but lacking the physical strength and fighting abilities, the superhero element is removed here, leaving a very human and relatable character. Greg Kinnear and Brendan Gleeson are equally terrific in their respective roles. Khalid Abdalla, who played one of the hijackers in Greengrass' United 93, also features as Miller's reluctant translator who struggles with divided loyalties. One of the most intriguing aspects of Green Zone is that, rather than using extras dressed in battle fatigues, a lot of the men surrounding Damon are apparently soldiers who have spent time fighting in the Iraq War. These men aren't given particularly large roles, but where it counts is in the details - the tactics and movements of the team all feel real.

Every once in a while, a smart, rousing, mature film for adults is released that audiences decide to bypass, and Green Zone is the current example. It's a shame such movies as this aren't well received at the box office, because the cinematic climate would be a better place with more of this kind. On Michael Moore's Twitter, he said of the movie: "I can't believe this film got made. It's been stupidly marketed as action film. It is the most HONEST film about Iraq War made by Hollywood."

7.8/10