On Saturday night I went with some friends to see Green Zone, an action movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, who also directed The Bourne Ultimatum.
The question I had going in, which I’d imagine was the same question being asked by many who saw the film, was “Is this going to be just another Jason Bourne movie?” Fortunately, it wasn’t that simple. Yes, the style is strikingly similar. The camera shakes, the action is non-stop, and Damon’s character, an Army Chief Warrant Officer, makes almost no mistakes and gets himself out of some pretty rough situations.
Overall, I found it entertaining. I was glad to see that they tried to not make it just another Bourne film, but still kept it moving pretty well. The story itself is very politically charged; it’s about the early days of the Iraq War and the fruitless searches for weapons of mass destruction. I found a couple parts to be loosely constructed, which sometimes can work as a refreshing “I didn’t see that one coming,” but, for the most part, Green Zone’s moments fell flat and just felt slightly lazy.
The technical film making was quite superb. They didn’t go overboard with the technology, but kept it pretty cutting edge. The character development was OK but not great. The ending was mostly predictable. Damon did a good job, and I found the acting to be quite good on the whole. I’d be cautious about recommending it to others to see in theatres, but I do think it’s a good popcorn movie that requires only the slightest bit of thought. The topic, the Iraq War, is getting a bit old, but I thought it worked. I’m going to go with a score of 7 out of 10.
The question I had going in, which I’d imagine was the same question being asked by many who saw the film, was “Is this going to be just another Jason Bourne movie?” Fortunately, it wasn’t that simple. Yes, the style is strikingly similar. The camera shakes, the action is non-stop, and Damon’s character, an Army Chief Warrant Officer, makes almost no mistakes and gets himself out of some pretty rough situations.
Overall, I found it entertaining. I was glad to see that they tried to not make it just another Bourne film, but still kept it moving pretty well. The story itself is very politically charged; it’s about the early days of the Iraq War and the fruitless searches for weapons of mass destruction. I found a couple parts to be loosely constructed, which sometimes can work as a refreshing “I didn’t see that one coming,” but, for the most part, Green Zone’s moments fell flat and just felt slightly lazy.
The technical film making was quite superb. They didn’t go overboard with the technology, but kept it pretty cutting edge. The character development was OK but not great. The ending was mostly predictable. Damon did a good job, and I found the acting to be quite good on the whole. I’d be cautious about recommending it to others to see in theatres, but I do think it’s a good popcorn movie that requires only the slightest bit of thought. The topic, the Iraq War, is getting a bit old, but I thought it worked. I’m going to go with a score of 7 out of 10.
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