The action packed team is back. Director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon, who gave the memorable ‘Bourne’ series – ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ (2004) and ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ (2007), venture into anti-American territory (as said by many critics) with their latest offering ‘Green Zone’, loosely based on the book ‘Imperial Life in the Emerald City’ by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
Set in Baghdad in 2003, we see Roy Miller (Matt Damon), a US soldier heading a group in search of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) at sites ticked off by the intelligence.
But, the search proves futile as the team finds just empty buildings. Roy starts doubting the credibility of the intelligence and sets out to find the truth with CIA officer, Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson).The only roadblock being Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), of The Pentagon.
What works for ‘Green Zone’ is the tight editing and very Greengrass-style handheld camera shots. Cinematography by Barry Ackroyd is powerful and Baghdad (recreated in Spain and Morocco) with its ravaged buildings is believable. The film is marred by cliche characters – be it the righteous US soldier or the scheming Pentagon official, pitted against each another.
But, if you are a sucker for action flicks, forget about the politics, facts gone wrong; just enjoy Damon and impeccable action sequences with some crackling popcorn.
