Writer: Hanna Zainal

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Watch this if you liked: The Bourne movies, “United 93”

The Iraq War which started in 2003 and seems to have no end in sight divided Americans bitterly. When it was proven that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and that the war was started on sexed-up intelligence, it was already too late. "Green Zone" tells of a soldier's journey to uncover the truth about the concealed intelligence behind the alleged harping of WMD that justified the war. Inspired by former Washington Post Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran's best-selling non-fiction book 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone', comes this movie about the WMD controversy.

In his third collaboration with director Paul Greengrass who directed him in the previous two Bourne movies, Matt Damon once again plays the lead, that of Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller. Roy is a career soldier who was in the previous Iraq war, the 1990 Gulf War and returns to a new Iraq in 2003. Miller begins to suspect that there is a flaw in intelligence of WMD in Iraq when raids turn up empty.

However, he has to get past the corridors of power in the form of Defense Intelligence agent Clark Poundstone played by Greg Kinnear. Interestingly, these two played conjoined twins in the 2003 Farrelly brothers' movie "Stuck On You" but are now on opposing sides of the divide in this movie. Rounding out the cast is Brendan Gleeson as Martin Brown, the CIA station chief, Amy Ryan as Wall Street Journal journalist Lawrie Dayne, British actor Jason Isaacs as Lt. Col. Briggs, and Khalid Abdalla as Iraqi veteran Freddy.

The movie is a psychological thriller that makes you think. There is no wrong or right presented here and director Greengrass has managed to deliver both sides of the American and Iraqi story. Kudos to him for that. The lesson learnt here is nothing is at it seems and one should never take anything at face value.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best war movies in recent memory. As usual, Matt Damon shows why he's one the best actors of his generation. It helps too to have a convincing cast who give great performances and good story. This movie is a must-see for Damon fans and war thrillers.


Cinema Online, 02 March 2010