Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-25 03:20:14

Matt Damon rocks in GZ.

Matt Damon is okay, but the script is weak. So so watch. Not as good as the Bourne movies. Also, the action is brief. I would say rental.

george.schmidt 2012-05-24 09:11:48

Crackerjack re-teaming of Damon & Greengrass

THE GREEN ZONE (2010) *** Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Glesson,Amy Ryan, Jason Isaacs, Khalid Abdalla. Damon and filmmaker PaulGreengrass team up again in this kissing cousin to their "BOURNE"films, this time setting the action in Iraq circa 2003 with therelentless pursuit of 'weapons of mass destruction' ends up in thebupkus bin until Damon gets wind of a real lead by a civilian (Abdalla)and begins to put the pieces of deceit together with conspiracythriller written all over thanks largely to Brian Helgeland'srat-a-tat-tat screenplay adaptation of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book"Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone") and theratchet tension created by the director (although I could've done withthe been-there-done-that 'shaky-cam' he consistently decides on using).

moviemaster 2012-05-23 10:26:32

True *hit

People write of it's being an action thriller and that they shouldn'tworry about whether it is true or not. "It's just fiction." Yes, andno. We went to war on specious if not duplicitous Intel. The rightthinks it was all just a big mistake (the Intel). The left thinks itwas a conspiracy. I think it was something in between. Even a presidentas stupid as W would not have gone to war, based on WMD, knowing therewere no WMD. But he and his entire cabal would go to war on Intelprovided by an unreliable source which claimed what they wanted tohear. Call it wishful Intel. So in that instance, the movie probablydeviates from what really happened. But overall, it follows the logicof the war and the incredible bungling that occurred once we hadoccupied the country. So in that sense, it is fact. Republicans cannever stand facts... they get in the way of their fantasies, like"Mission Accomplished." Or "Bringing democracy to the Middle East" asthough it were a pine sapling which would drop seeds and cover thehills with freedom. So incredibly naive that one has to wonder ifanyone in the State Dept or the War Room had ever read any history ofthe region. So any film which shows even a glimmer of truth regardingthis most despicable and useless war is to be highly praised. It's toobad it's not a TV series which could continue to show what devastationwe have wrought, for the conflict is far from over. If we do leaveanytime soon, Iraq will slide back into complete chaos. The threedisparate factions will not rule equally and amicably. Only a strongforce, like a dictator or an occupying power like the US (or Britainearlier) can offer stability, unless the country were to split intothree pieces. Kudus for the attempt to show incompetence andmisfeasance.

brandonsullivan91 2012-05-22 14:50:30

Who dunnit set in Iraq

Green Zone really surprised me by being a well done and fast paced"who-dunnit" set in the Iraqi War of 2003. Damon plays a no non-sensesoldier who wants to find out why his unit is on a wild goose chaseinstead of finding the weapons of mass destruction. Damon meets a guycalled Freddie, a local Iraqi, who has a mutual interest in booting outthe old leadership and a working relationship is formed.Freddie was a gem in this movie. He was really believable, authentic,and human voice for the Iraqi people throughout the movie. Freddie'srole allowed the movie to move away from the "us against them"mentality usually found in war movies and broaden it to the theme ofgood versus evil.No question there is a political agenda in this movie. However, even ifyou disagree with the agenda presented in the movie it is done wellenough to warrant a viewing.

moha_master 2012-05-17 06:48:32

waste of money and time!

this was the most ridicules action/political movie i have ever seen ,for the action part i saw no action in the movie , from political pointof view the movie is trying to deliver many messages to the world "someof them are true" but most of them are lies , the biggest lie is thatthe USA army entered iraq to kick Saddam out of it and to build ademocratic system in there!? no my friends all what USA care about isthe OIL and Israel , iraq as country it has a great amount of oil andiraq considered a potential threat for Israel and this is the wholestory , the fabrication of truth and all such things that happened inthe movie is to convince people of something that does not exist ...by the way who the hell is freddy?!!

tburke85 2012-05-16 15:56:00

Green Zone An Intense Action Thriller

Green Zone is an intense action thriller with some flaws which I'll getinto later from director Paul Greengrass who's admirable in making thismovie that raises some questions concerning why we entered the war inIraq. Matt Damon turns in a solid performance as Chief Staff SergeantRoy Miller who begins to question whether the intelligence they'rereceiving about weapons of mass destruction are reliable after failingto find any on more than one occasion. Some may believe Damon's justplaying Jason Bourne but I didn't think that way. I found him to bevery believable as Miller who's fed up with coming up empty handed andsets out to find the truth no matter where it may lead. Damon hasproved in films like Invictus, The Departed, The Bourne trilogy, andGood Will Hunting, his talent as an actor. This film is no different.Well done. Greg Kinnear is decent as Clark Poundstone a representativefor the Pentagon whose Intel about WMD'S (weapons of mass destruction)in Iraq may not be as reliable as he claims it is. I consider Kinnearto be a talented actor and he's good as essentially the villain of thefilm but I just wish they gave him more to do. Kinnear however stillturns in a good performance of a man who will do just about anything toprotect the secret surrounding the intelligence that came from aconfidential source only known as "Mangellan" about the WMD'S frombeing exposed. The same can go for Brendan Gleeson who's effective asCIA operative Martin Brown who like Miller begins to question whetheror not the Intel about the weapons is true or fabricated by Poundstone.Gleeson's very good as Miller's ally in his quest to find the truth ina hostile foreign land where danger lurks behind every corner. AmyRyan's convincing as journalist Lawrie Dayne who like Miller and Brownis also after the truth behind the WMD's in Iraq. I haven't seen Ryanin too many films but she continues to prove her talent as an actresswith her performance in this one. Kinnear, Gleeson, and Ryan's screentime maybe limited but they're believable as their characters none theless. The rest of the cast including the real soldiers in Millers squadare also very effective and it was a wise move from Greengrass to useactual men from the military for those particular roles. The freneticaction sequences are well executed and paced which felt realistic forthe most part. I admit the shaky camera movements did get a bit much attimes because you couldn't really tell whats was going on but it workedfor the film in a way to give Green Zone a documentary type feel. The115 minute running time moved at a steady pace so it never dragged forme which some films tend to do like There Will Be Blood and Avatar toname a couple. I can't think of too much I didn't like about Green Zoneexcept some characters (Kinnear, Gleeson, and Ryan) aren't reallydeveloped enough and don't have a whole lot to do because most of thefocus is on Damon but they're still effective as the characters. Somequestions are never answered and left ambiguous which worked for themovie I guess. So overall if you liked The Hurt Locker than chances areyou'll enjoy this one too. Green Zone has a compelling story thatraises some interesting questions, intense well paced action, drama,suspense, and solid performances by the cast (especially Damon,Kinnear, Gleeson, and Ryan) who make this film worth the time to watch.

2012-05-15 11:46:33

Amazing Movie..But America Didn't Get The Picture!!!!

The year 2010 could be the begining for Action Movies to be discarded in Hollywood. First we had the amazing EDGE OF DARKNESS with MEL GIBSON that did OK in the box office but this one took the whole bakery as it did very poorly.The budget for this movie was $100 million and did at the box office around $37 million so "Houston we have a SERIOUS problem".In Hollywood everything goes in cycles. Now we have 3D movies coming back like the latest thing when in fact they've been around since the 70s and 80s. Im making this comment because AVATAR banked $600 million dollars.Focusing on the positive - This is an amazing action movie by Matt Damon and the director of the last 2 Bourne Identity movies. It is non stop action from begining to end. Its about the war in IRAQ and it reminds me a bit of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN because is very intense.Again, I have no idea why it did so bad at the box office when in fact the movie is very very good.To anyone that reads this, we need to support the ACTION MOVIE genre or it will be extint for a while because the bottom line in Hollywood is CASH!!

2012-05-14 17:16:33

Surprising modern war movie.

This review is from: Green Zone (DVD) If you liked The Kingdom you will like this movie. Damon does a stellar job. Plenty of action and great story line.

Neil Welch 2012-05-13 22:49:31

Overrates itself

I had high hopes for this. I like Matt Damon, and I enjoyed the Bournemovies.But there are a number of problems here. The main one is that thefilmmakers are telling an important story here - you can tell, and theyare very aware of it. The only thing is that it isn't very much of astory - Damon keeps not finding WMD in Iraq and follows back theoriginal intelligence to the point where it becomes clear that it wasfabricated - and the importance alone isn't really sufficient tosustain the whole movie.The second problem is - well, let's club together and buy PaulGreengrass a tripod. Yes, the hand-held camera-work is great forverite, but there comes a point where you would welcome watching asequence where the camera stays still. The constant jigglingcamera-work becomes profoundly wearisome when it continues throughoutthe entire movie.This isn't a bad movie, but I was disappointed.

CountZero313 2012-05-13 07:15:39

Iraq as it may just have been

The Iraq War is rendered as an improbable but highly plausibleconspiracy theory in this entertaining war flick. Matt Damon bristlescompetently as the soldier who doubts the intel on WMD. The folly ofthis whole theatre of events, which we are of course still livingthrough, is wonderfully captured when Miller is handed a milliondollars in a sack to give to an informant. The Iraq war was a neo-constitch-up, there is no doubt, though whether of the haphazard variety,or of the deviously plotted variety as this film suggests, I am lesssure. Where the film succeeds is in reminding us that the Iraqis havetheir own views on how their country should be run, views that clashand conflict, ultimately to sink any imperialist plans that meddlingWestern politicians may have had for Iraq. Yigal Naor as the pragmaticdictator-in-waiting Al Rawi is unnerving, highlighting the naiveté ofMiller and his ilk, who lack a real politique overview of theirill-fated actions.Green Zone manages to function both as social critique, and aplot-driven conspiracy flick in its own right. Worth checking out.

2012-05-12 23:40:56

Delivers Nonstop Excitement & Suspense

Director Paul Greengrass made a name for himself with the Jason Bourne series, and doesn't fail to deliver with this thrill ride. While Green Zone is a mostly fictional account of the hunt for WMDs in Iraq, the movie itself is an action-packed conspiracy flick that will appeal to fans of any political leaning.Matt Damon does a great job as Chief Warrant Officer Miller, a unit commander responsible for searching alleged WMD sites. Whereas Jason Bourne is a one-man army, Miller is both brave and vulnerable, and offers a real human element to the film.Much of the film's suspense comes not only from tense action scenes, but the static between Pentagon officer Clark Poundstone and CIA Agent Martin Brown. Portrayed expertly by veteran actors Greg Kinnear and Brenan Gleeson, the duo play a dangerous game with different goals, and Miller caught in the middle.While a few people dislike the "shaky cam" style of shooting used by Greengrass for action sequences, I didn't find it the least bit distracting. Green Zone won't win any Oscars, but it will absolutely keep you on the edge of your seat.

2012-05-12 14:53:30

A War Movie on the Liberal Side

To put it plainly. The title of my review says it all. If you hold any American patriotism within your hearts and believe our governments goal is not to betray and use its American citizens, then this movie is not for you. The plot is merely this:Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement, according to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, Poundstone. Veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons, it is a deception to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Also suspicious of Poundstone is Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, who lets slip to Miller that Poundstone told her he had secret talks in Jordan with an important Iraqi, code-named Magellan, who told him about the weapons, though it now seems likely Magellan's true information was to the contrary. So begins a hunt for the truth.However, the movie has a disappointing ending and in my opinion, as a true conservative-American citizen and one who believes in the "fight for freedom," this movie left me angry and emotionally fatigued. I am bewildered in believing there really are people in this country who believe the way this movie portrays American's to be.

PeterRoeder 2012-05-11 14:03:47

Nice movie but like Apocalypse Now a bit of a fairytale

I really like Matt Damon, and the Bourne Movies, and I enjoyed thismovie as well. That being said I don't think the narrative was veryconvincing as a war movie. It was more like a fairy-tale similar toApocalypse Now as a Vietnam War movie which has also been criticized asbeing not very credible in terms of the real experience of being there.I don't think the whole thing about WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction)was very interesting, convincing, radical or controversial in any way,but I will not deny that there actually are guys like Roy Miller outthere. Moreover, the sleazy official was a bit too much of a cliché, sothe whole thing was a bit too much cut up in right and wrong and stufflike that, instead of questioning the whole Bush-post September 11thscenario, which would have been much more interesting and convincing.

2012-05-11 03:58:03

What was the point?

WARNING SPOILERS!!!Again I'll ask what was the point of this movie. I think the point of this movie was to make left wing people in Hollywood and around the United States feel better about themselves. There was no other point to this movie, the story was average and predictable at best, the acting was robot like, the directing was just bad. The only really good thing about this movie were the action and visuals. I'm going to say the same thing about about Green Zone I said about Avatar. Great action and visuals do not make a good movie.Now you Obama lovers and left wing democrats calm down. I am not a Republican or Democrat. I have no party, and I really hate the way the political system works right now. All this movie does is point out facts most people should already know. The Bush administration lied to use about there being and active Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, just like they lied about the terrorists from 911 being from there, when in fact most of them were from Saudi Arabia. Most people should already know this. Just like everybody should know Saddam Hussein was a terrible man who killed millions of his own people, and his government should have been overthrown. Hell back in the Gulf War we should have gotten ride of him then. The people of Iraq are better off without him in the long run. Most people out there should already know this, so again what was the point of this movie. Oh yes I forgot about the movie.The story I shouldn't even have to go into. It's about the search for WMD's, and not finding any. The writers didn't care about the characters only the story, and it was still bad. The only good side to this story was that the writers tried to show the Iraqis perspective, which I did enjoy. It just wasn't enough to make this a good movie.The acting was terrible and robot like. Matt Damonwas essentially Jason Bourne, and the movie kind of felt like a bad Bourne movie. The other American actors(Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Brendan Gleeson and others) were like robots spouting off their lines. The only characters I actually felt for were the Iraq ones especially Freddy(Khalid Abdalla). His acting and character stole the movie for me.The directing by Paul Greengrass was just plain bad. It was like he was directing a bad Jason Bourne movie.Finally the action and special effects, the only good thing about this movie. They were admittedly good and riveting. The only problem is that you just don't care about any of the characters and who lives or dies.Hollywood needs to stop making movies on Iraq, they suck at it. Stop standing on your soap box and come down to the rest of us. There are plenty of other issues and wars you could make movies about. For example I would love to see a movie about WWI. I know WWII is the popular war to make movies about, but I think making movie based on WWI would be good and a change of passe.Now if you want to see good movies about Iraq, I would suggest only two. The first is Hurt Locker, and the second is Three Kings. Those two movies are truly great and worth watching.

2012-05-06 04:16:47

Liberal balderdash

Once again, Matt Damon is sucking on the teat of liberalism. The whole movie centers on Bush bashing vs. the faults of American intelligence. Sure did well in the theaters - not! Come on Matt - step out of your pampered millionaire lifestyle and see how real America lives!

bob the moo 2012-05-05 09:34:22

Solidly done but the nature of the plot means it never thrills or feels particularly urgent

I was looking forward to Green Zone when it was released because,although I knew it was not going to be another Bourne film, it did havemany impressive names involved and also proposed to make a thriller outof a reasonably topical subject – the hunt for WMD's in post-war Iraqand the suggestion that not only are there none to be found, but thatthere may never have been any in the first place. In terms of the basicthings you expect the film to do it was pretty good. Damon is always astrong presence on screen and Greengrass' direction adds a layer oftension into all the scenes where movement is key – specifically Damonand his men entering any area or pursuing anyone.I mention these things because I did quite like the film because ofthese factors but at the same time I cannot ignore the massive problemthat is at the very heart of the film, which is the narrative. WhatGreen Zone does is make a race against time thriller in the Iraqi warzone, the race being that to uncover evidence that the US manufacturedevidence (or ignored evidence to the contrary) that Iraq and WMD andwere ready to use them. Perhaps I am too cynical for my own good but itwas years ago when Blair told the UK that Saddam could launch an attackwithin 45 minutes and the revelations of plagiarism in the intelreports and other claims of "dodgey dossiers". All of this is old news– still important of course, but when something is practically taken asfact, it is really hard to make a thriller engage the audience whenyour narrative is "race to reveal that thing we have all accepted asfact".I'll not wander into politics on this too much, but liberation,democracy, freedom and regime change all came later as reasons to be inIraq and I think the vast majority of people (in the UK) believe thatthe decision to go to war was taken before the reasons were found.Within the world of Green Zone this does mean that it is really hard toget urgency and thrills into this narrative specifically. There areindividual moments of danger and urgency of course, and it is thesethat do make the film work just about, but I found it hard to begripped by the bigger picture and, if anything found the main characterto be a bit naïve in regards his believes and I felt that the filmneeded to do more to put me in his shoes, to make me see the world fromhis point of view and not from the view of the typical man in thestreet – which is (IMO) "the men in charge wanted to go into Iraq andcame up with reasons to do so".This failure to really make the narrative work can be seen in otherareas related to the writing. I thought the attack on a complacentmedia was also pretty clumsily done and didn't have a lot of impact orintelligence to it – again perhaps to some the idea that some elementsof the mainstream media are essentially repeating what they are toldrather than investigating for fear of upsetting their access rightswill be shocking and a real gripping part of the narrative, but for meit was not. The cast work well with Greengrass to convince in theirroles and add to the tension in individual scenes. Damon is strong inthe lead, Kinnear is convincing as a middle-manager of the conflict andworks well with Gleeson. The Wire's Ryan is OK but deserved lessobvious material – the addition of Jason Isaacs (hello) adds somethingto that role, but there isn't much for him to do to justify thatcharacter other than creating a bit of tension in the race at the end.Don't get me wrong though, I did still enjoy the film as a basicthriller because it had enough scenes of urgency to make up for thelack of it in the narrative. I'm sure some will be gripped by thebigger picture "race against time" narrative but I wasn't and I didn'tthink the film had enough about it to cover for the way that some notinsignificant parts of the audience will be watching it with the viewthat this is old news that we are being asked to be thrilled by. Anenjoyable and competent enough thriller, just a shame that it worksbest when taken as individual scenes and not as a whole.

MLDinTN 2012-05-05 02:54:50

Hollywood's version of the Iraq war

I'm guessing this movie is purely fiction and not based on any facts.It's just the conspiracy theory a lot of people believe concerning W'sadministration. It's the lefty's version of the war.I thought the movie was pretty good and entertaining. I had never heardof it before watching it on cable. Matt Damon plays Miller, head of amilitary unit. He is questioning the fact that they are sent onmissions to find WMD, yet always come up empty. He thinks they aregetting bad intel and enlists the help of reporters. From talking to anIraqi prisoner he helped capture, he finds out whom Magellen is.Magellen is the code name for the Iraqi source for WMD. What he findsleads to even bigger government conspiracies. So he is trying to provewhat he knows before the big government guys, like Greg Kinnear, cancover it up and silence people.I thought the last part with the chase through the city was filmedwell. It made sense, was suspenseful, and I think it had the rightending. You know most of the locals did not like the Iraqi military.FINAL VERDICT: a movie worth checking out.

ghecko 2012-05-04 17:21:17

Liberal Propaganda at its Finest

This is an exciting action-packed film and, it weren't trying to smackyou with Liberalist propaganda at every turn, might even have beenenjoyable.It incorrectly and dangerously paints itself as a documentary type ofstoryline . . . when it is pure fabrication based on liberal ideals ofconservative conspiracy.Of all 5 people who ere in the theater to see this movie, everyone cameout grumbling, and 2 people went to request their money back.DON'T go see it, even if you are liberal, its not that great of amovie.

yakuzaplacemat1215 2012-04-28 06:49:34

Mission Accomplished!

I generally do not take motion pictures too seriously (although I fullyrespect artistic achievements in them). Green Zone has painted asfavourable a picture of US foreign policy as you can see anywhere. I donot have a problem with that, simply shrugging it off with "It's only amovie". And if it is going to do this anyway, the period covered by themovie would certainly be a good one to do it with.On the other hand, this movie has come a long way from the heavy-handedpolitical propaganda-type of movies usually produced by the UK. It isquite palatable, with what you can almost (but not quite) callminimalism approach. You do not find contrived vulgarization of the CIAor exaggerated glorification of the Capitalists. It fact, the firsthour (i.e. about 2/5) of the movie was so much like a dull documentarythat I had difficulty staying awake. But as it became more focuses anddramatic conflicts intensified, I got more and more interested.The first thing you would notice is the almost complete absence ofgritty battle scenes, particularly when the story is essentially aboutthe military struggle between the USA and the Iraqi Nuclear WeaponsComplex for the control of our planet. The focus of this movie is onthe political background, with characters and dialogue aplenty. Thefateful, decisive Operation Iraqi Freedom is all but briefly mentioned,after which the mood turns even lighter. The changing point is aplayful scene of two official photographers setting up their camera atthe unassuming entrance of a humble house and capturing the arrival ofkey personalities (a complete "who's who") to a meeting that sets thecourse of the founding of the IPRC.The ominous elements is given almost exclusively to the American side,focusing mainly on Matt Damon's "Miller", who is depicted, however,with surprising generosity. The several scenes between him and his bossverge on tenderness, while the latter is even given an impeccablyheroic persona. The only really dark side is the order given tosecretly eliminate over a dozen Obama supporters on the eve of his fledto Taiwan. The rousing reception is led by an "old soldier" (notliterally in age) portrayed brilliantly by the inimitable AymenHamdouchi, representing an army that suffered horrendous casualties.The bitterness in this old soldier's dramatic salute in left for theaudience to interpret.Overall, however, the movie bathes in a light, almost cheerful,atmosphere, which is totally understandable as it is made to celebratethe lies involving WMDs. Who would want to recall blood and pain on abirthday party? It concludes with the "soft" history of the selectionof the national anthem and flag for the new republic.Not for the average bloke. If you like to feel "in the know" and enjoydocumentaries it is a must.As to the huge cast of cameos of who's who in the UK movie scene, morethan enough has been said, especially by incompetent movie reviewer whodon't know any UK actors except for those from Harry Potter and variousGuy Ritchie gangster flicks.

2012-04-28 00:07:16

Hollywood Propaganda by Any Other Name Would Smell as Foul

I will keep this uncharateristically short and to the point. I like Matt Damon and I like his tough but real spy/military acting persona. What I don't like is being insulted and clubbed by the Hollywood propaganda machine. Yes, we were told there were WMDs somewhere in Iraq... Yes, none of significance were found... No it doesn't mean they were never there, weren't moved, etc. Got it? Can we move on? This movie would have been much stronger and more complex if it had muddied the propaganda message by showing the history and intelligence behind the belief of all the Western allies (and including the previous Clinton administration) that Sadam had WMDs, and showed his refusal to allow inspections that would prove his denial. But this movie didn't bother with that part of the truth because it was, as indicated elsewhere, not looking for anything as complicated or nuanced as reality. Green Zone is merely the latest exercise in Hollywood vanity. As an anarchist friend once recognized, "If Hollywood, and all the little Che Guevara-wanna-be's it sees in the mirror each morning, hate the present capitalist regime, it surely is not going to like what it helps replace it with." Those of you new to the planet may want to strap-in because the first rule of history is, "It's always later than you think."Also, would someone please wack the idiot that is behind the over-use of "camera-shake" as a device for communicating action and realism. This is the same twit who managed to all but ruin the second two Bourne movies. Please!