Green Zone: Amy Ryan, Matt Damon (top); director Paul Greengrass, Matt Damon on the Green Zone set
Paul Greengrass' Iraq War thriller Green Zone follows a US Army officer (Matt Damon) who discovers there's a government conspiracy at work to dupe Americans into believing Saddam Hussein's Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction." As to be expected, right-wingers have called the movie "anti-American," while US critics have given it mixed reviews.
An expensive production — $100 million, plus marketing and distribution costs — Green Zone took in only $14.5 million at the North American box office on its debut weekend, following a pattern of poor receipts for film productions set in Iraq. Unless Green Zone does exceedingly well on home video and pay per view, Universal and partner Relativity Films will in all likelihood lose a lot of money on this one. Not helping matters is the fact that the film's overseas box office hasn't been all that promising, with less than $10 million earned in several key territories.
Also in the Green Zone cast: Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, and Amy Ryan.
Consensus: Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass return to the propulsive action and visceral editing of the Bourne films — but a cliched script and stock characters keep those methods from being as effective this time around. Rotten Tomatoes.
"Green Zone looks at an American war in a way almost no Hollywood movie ever has: We're not the heroes, but the dupes. Its message is that Iraq's fabled 'weapons of mass destruction' did not exist, and that neocons within the administration fabricated them, lied about them and were ready to kill to cover up their deception. … Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass, is a thriller that makes no claim to be based on fact, but provides characters and situations that have uncanny real-life parallels." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.
"You have to hand it to Green Zone. Made with daring and passion, it attempts the impossible and comes remarkably close to pulling it off. So close, in fact, that the skill and audacity used, the shock and awe of this highly entertaining attempt, are more significant than the imperfect results." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times.
"In Green Zone, director Paul Greengrass brings the frenetic, run-and-gun style with which he utterly transformed the movie thriller in the Jason Bourne series to a different kind of thriller, one with a sharper political edge. For Green Zone explores the Bush administration's willingness to embrace palpable lies over murky truths in order to sell the Iraq War to the American public." Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter.
Photos: Green Zone (Jasin Boland / Universal)