The Green Zone: "if You Can Get past the Noise....

....there's a decent, if almost over-earnest movie here, as Matt Damon reunites with his Jason Bourne agitator, director Paul Greengrass. Seems Damon really wants us to take him seriosuly of late (this follows his Oscar-nominated turn as a S Aricna rugby team captain in the plodding Invictus

With the passage of time, its become okay to mount an upfront rebuttal of the WMD argument put forward by GW Bush and his cohorts as the reason for invading Iraq, and from Greengrass' direction and Brian Helgeland's script some pertinent questions are raised.

Still, there's more than enough gunplay for action-heads to feast on. In fact, its almost constant throughout the movie, the sub-plot peeking sheepishly through the hails of gunfire.

Damon is, as expected, solidly competent in the lead role, as is the underrated Greg Kinnear i nrole of the Washington technocrat selling the whole pack of lies, but it's the supports who really shine in this movie, especially Khalid Abdalla as Freddy (Fareed), a local who approaches Damon's unit and becomes his right hand...well, sort of.

if you have no interest in the Iraqi War shenenigans, then maybe Green Zone is not your movie, but otherwise, you could do worse. Having not viewed the Oscar-conquering Hurt Locker might actually be a plus since this movie gets the opportunity to stand on its own. And stand it does.


Local rating: A-18 (for persistent violence and expletives)