Review of Green Zone (2010) by Pascal M — 14 Jul 2013

There may be spoilers...

Sometimes it makes me wonder if our country is going into this war with the right agenda. Green Zone is Paul Greengrass' political war film that follows Roy Miller into finding out why the intel/sources of finding weapons of mass destruction was inaccurate. I did not expect too much from Greengrass' latest effort as I pegged this as one of those films that delivers entertainment and not something that makes you discuss or reflect on. Well, Greengrass has delivered both.

The screenplay is written by Brian Helgeland, who have written a few notable screenplays, L.A Confidential and Mystic River, and a few that are a bit on the dull side, A Knight's Tale and The Order. This one surprised me and straight form the beginning it got me interested. Though, his latest film 42, he seems to be going in a great direction. Green Zone's screenplay is driven with the protagonist's frustration in the poor source of intelligence but it is also driven by this other political story that determines the cause of the U.S. army and Chief Roy Miller's intervention and purpose in Iraq. Overall, I did enjoy and was fascinated with Helgeland's screenplay as it allowed me to be somewhat aware of the possibility that we may be involved in war for the wrong reasons. With that, I also found his screenplay to be entertaining, similar to Salt and The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3.

Paul Greengrass' war flick is indeed impressive and I was happy to find his ability to create tension and exhilarating action that was found in his previous films, his Bourne films and United 93. He seems to be in good control with this one and his confidence as a filmmaker has indeed improved. This film may have been mixed within critics and audience due to expectations and a weaker screenplay in comparison to The Bourne series and United 93. I hope his next film, Captain Phillips, would bring him back to acclaim.

Barry Ackroyd is the Director of Photography of this film. Before watching this, I really didn't know that he was responsible for the film's photography until the end credits. The film continuously has this golden hue in the daylight scenes and when the sun goes down, it becomes almost pitch black. Ackroyd and Greengrass have wanted to give that gritty and dusty look by keeping the grain and exaggerating it. It was a great idea for Greengrass to have Ackroyd as their DP as his excellent work from The Hurt Locker has been ported over here. I admire his work and ability to convey a gritty atmosphere without making the image unattractive. I can't wait to see the next film I'll see with his work behind the camera.

The film has good pacing and kept me hooked. I was worried maybe the political side would slow things down and may lose the tension that follow Roy Miller's story. The credit would be due to Christopher Rouse slick editing, something that I found on The Bourne Ultimatum.

This film has very good sound mixing and the credit all goes to the film's sound department. When the action elevates, the mix gives us a thick and heavy boom. Every bullet is felt and silent moments are handled delicately. Either the sound department's mix is too strong and overbearing over the score or that Josh Powell's intention is to create a score that enhances the image rather than create a statement of its own. I'd like to believe that it was the second one.

The choice of using Matt Damon in this film was not something I expected as I see him doing more slick characters, True Grit and Bourne series, but he did show that he could play a role like this. In my opinion, another actor could play his role as I felt that he didn't own it as much as he did in comparison to the Bourne series.

In the end, this was fun and a little deeper than I thought it would be but Damon's performance didn't really show much for me. This film by Greengrass is something great to watch at least once, maybe rent it or put it in your Netflix queue.