It was the teaming of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass that made me almost completely forget that “Green Zone” was yet another movie about our current war in Iraq. I find myself, as well as many others I know, avoiding this subject at the movies because we spend so much of our days thinking about what goes on over there, and of how we want this war to be over with already. But this director and actor were major forces behind some of the most exciting action movies of the past decade with “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Furthermore, the composer of the Bourne trilogy, John Powell, is on board as well to give the movie an even bigger kinetic kick. We all appear to agree on that the reason for being at war in Iraq, that Saddam having a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) was a lie, but that doesn’t begin to tell us the whole story.

“Green Zone” is said to have been inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, but the end credits spell out that the movie is actually a work of fiction. Still, while it is not exactly “based on a true story” (thank god they didn’t use that mantra for this one), “Green Zone” still feels like one of the more logical and honest commentaries about our current mess of a war in the Middle East.

Matt Damon stars as Army Chief warrant officer Roy Miller, and we see him with his unit as they investigate a warehouse believed to contain WMD’s inside. Turns out that it doesn’t, and we quickly find that this is not the first time Miller and his men have come up empty. As a result, Miller begins to seriously doubt the intelligence reports that have been provided to the troops from a “reliable” but anonymous source. Endlessly curious about why he and every other military officer are not finding any weapons, and with the odds of finding them becoming as bad as getting the winning Lotto number, Miller starts his own little investigation into the matter. At the same time, forces around him continue to try and contain a potentially combustible situation that may soon become possible to control in the slightest.

Could this film be seen as “The Bourne Conspiracy”? Well, almost. Like Jason Bourne, Roy Miller is searching for the truth. Jason was looking for his true identity, and Roy is looking to find the truth about WMD’s so that the American armed forces can seize them before Saddam and his top officials do more damage. Neither one ends up being completed satisfied with the answers they get.

It’s no wonder that Greengrass chose to work again with Damon on this film. Ever since “The Bourne Identity,” we have had no real problems in accepting the “Good Will Hunting” actor as an action hero (we were much more dubious about it back then). What makes him perfect for these kinds of roles is that Damon never descends into some clichéd portrayal of a soldier who thinks he’s all badass. Roy Miller is a down to earth kind of guy who is sincere in his quest to keep America safe from enemies foreign and domestice. Never does he try to be a hero or show off how macho he is; Miller is just a guy doing the job he enlisted to perform.

What I really liked about “Green Zone” among other things is how it shows how the Iraq war is a complete mess even while we go into the movie theater already knowing this. I mean, how much do we really know about what’s going on over there anyway? We can’t believe everything we read in the paper, and while we think we are experts on the war and the military, something usually comes along to remind us that we are not even close to understanding what’s really happening.

You have the soldiers coming up empty, you have the CIA knowing that they will come up empty and not sure why, and you have special intelligence who knows far more than they are willing to let their own military be aware of. In the midst of all this, you have investigative reporters writing articles on Saddam having started up weapons programs again even though they have never been told who the source of this news is. They have to take the word of an official who ends up leading them around in circles. No wonder America is in such a political rut right now; everyone is trying to cover their ass and stay ahead of the blame game. Granted, the movie takes place in Baghdad around the beginning of the invasion in 2003, but a lot of the problems shown here are just as bad today.

Now there are a lot of people out there who have already been calling this movie “anti-American” and “anti-war,” but I couldn’t agree with that sentiment any less. Most of the recent movies dealing with war are more respectful to the troops than people bother to realize. As for those who assume that it is appallingly “anti-American” as it shows Roy Miller going rogue against his superiors (particularly Greg Kinnear’s character) in getting the information he wants. I wonder if those same critics had a problem when Jack Bauer does the same thing on “24.”

If anything, a lot of the recent war movies and have been more anti-mercenary than anything else. Be it “Green Zone,” “The Hurt Locker,” or even “Rambo,” mercenaries are shown stepping all over the soldiers if they have to, and we have since come to know that they make about twice of what the average working class soldier gets paid each year. The soldiers in these films have been presented as far more prepared and much more patriotic in their commitment to protecting our country. With the mercenaries, you get the impression that they wouldn’t even be fighting in the war if they weren’t making close to six figures. In comparison, the troops of the armed forces come off looking much better. Now if that isn’t pro-troop, then I don’t know what is.

It should also go without saying that there is a complexity to both the American and Iraqi characters throughout the film. You figure everyone would be on the same team regardless of what side they are on, but you come to see all the infighting that is tearing each side apart as they delude themselves into believing they are winning. One of the most pivotal characters in “Green Zone” is Freddy, an Iraqi who Miller befriends and who later becomes his translator. Hollywood has often been accused of presenting Middle Eastern characters as nothing more than terrorists, but Freddy is not like that. In his own way, Freddy wants to help his country, and he risks his own life to try to help the Americans while not necessarily welcoming them to where he lives. Freddy ends up becoming the symbol of those Iraqis who feel wronged by their leaders, and of how infuriated they are about the endless damage that they constantly leave in their horrific wake. From a distance, it becomes clear that both sides are confused and become almost completely unsure of what to believe.

In some ways, you could also say that “Green Zone” is a criticism of American military involvement in other countries, but director Greengrass doesn’t necessarily hit you over the head with that. Still, during the scene where Miller comes face to face with General Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor gives the role a good menacing quality), Miller comes to learn the truth of why military forces are really in Iraq. Al-Rawi is one of the bad guys, but he is also a victim of being in the position he is in. In other words, Al-Rawi is going to take a fall only because the US government wants Saddam. While he may have told the truth about WMD’s, he was confessing to a political opportunist with deaf ears.

When Al-Rawi asks Roy Miller if he thinks American forces can seriously change anything in Iraq, I was quickly reminded of a similar scene in Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” where a helicopter pilot is being held by Somalia warlords who end up question the military’s involvement in their country:

“Do you think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this. Without victory, there will be no peace. There will always be killing, see? This is how things are in our world.”

Once again, American foreign policy is rendered almost useless as the troops deal with unfamiliar territory. It doesn’t matter if technology has advanced so much over the years, our soldiers are still strangers in a foreign land. After all these years, do we really still believe we can change the tide of things?

Throughout his career, Paul Greengrass has never been afraid of backing down from topics that feel very touchy. With “Bloody Sunday,” he captured the horrible events of January 20, 1972 when British soldiers clashed with Northern Ireland protestors who were fighting for their freedom. But perhaps the best example of Greengrass dealing with uncomfortable subjects was when he made “United 93” which dealt with the events of September 11^th and of how the passengers on that fateful flight were the first to deal with a post-World Trade Center world. Some thought it was too soon for a 9/11 movie (myself included), but Greengrass succeeded in making an incredibly powerful movie that honored the lives of those who perished while fighting to take control of the hijacked plane, and it proved to be as brilliant as it was emotionally draining.

Any other director making an Iraq war movie would probably have me running in the other direction to “Cop Out” or “Alice In Wonderland” (two movies I should have seen already), but not Greengrass. With “Green Zone,” he defies those who think that film should just be an escape and not a forum for national conversation. It’s an action movie that is designed to be as thrilling as it is enlightening. His aim is not to show how America divided itself from the rest of the world with this invasion, but of how it created sharp and highly sensitive divisions in America itself.

In addition to Matt Damon, there are several other actors who bring their considerable acting talents to “Green Zone.” Brendan Gleeson is perfectly cast as Martin Brown, the CIA Baghdad bureau chief who has seen it all. Still, he is trying to cut through the BS that is hindering his efforts of controlling the situation in Iraq. Amy Ryan (so damn good in “Gone Baby Gone”) is excellent as Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Lawrie Dayne. Her character has written many articles regarding weapons programs being continued in Saddam’s regime, but we see her doubt the source that has given her what she thought was reliable information. Most reporters in movies these days are despicable, but Ryan makes this one empathetic as she comes to discover the truth while it contradicts all she has reported. The always reliable Greg Kinnear is well cast as Clark Poundstone, a member of Pentagon Special Intelligence who knows far more than he lets on.

It’s no secret that these characters are based on real people, but of course the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

“Green Zone” isn’t quite as viscerally exciting as the Jason Bourne movies, and it won’t go down as the definitive Iraq war movie (“The Hurt Locker” holds that distinctive honor), but it is still edge of your seat entertainment from a director who doesn’t even try to hold his camera in one place for very long. But not to worry, Greengrass films the action in a way that doesn’t make it all that hard to tell what’s going on. It also has that adrenaline racing score by composer John Powell which I am hoping to find on CD for far less than its $15.99 retail price.

Another key scene that comes to mind from this movie is when Roy Miller goes out to investigate a lead, and Kinnear’s character ends up cutting him off and cancelling his transfer to Brown’s CIA team. As he walks inside the CIA headquarters in Baghdad, he tells Miller,

“You shouldn’t have been playing on the wrong team.”

It makes me wonder, when was the last time all of us Americans were on the same team?

***½ out of ****

"Hey look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from whatever-gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you're supposed to be doing this week."
-- Ben Affleck from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back

"Well, sir, going home! "
-- Driver from Lawrence Of Arabia

"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?"
-- Colonel Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now


"My last two films have tanked. If you screw this up I'm really in trouble. I'm really counting on you now."

And so this is how Matt Damon put himself in the hands of director, Doug Liman, for 2002's The Bourne Identity-- a film that arrived in the 2002 summer of half baked ideas and good intentions. Doug Liman would score a home run against action king John Woo on the same day of release as Windtalkers which drags out into its beaten state. It was a massive upset on that bewildering June day. It never dawned on me that Matt Damon would ever want to play a character like Jason Bourne. The Robert Ludlum character had been played by Richard Chamberlain in an ABC Television mini series back in 1988. Matt Damon is not your Father's Jason Bourne. Here I thought Tom Ripley or Will Hunting would be the characters he would be remembered for and very good characters at that, but by the time The Bourne Supremacy came out in 2004, there was no mistaking it-- Matt Damon is Jason Bourne. He slides into the role with each outing as smoothly as Jeremy Irons fits perfectly into his suit in Betrayal. The Bourne Identity had arrived and it set into a motion a series events that can be felt today. Doug Liman brought his hip style which he had honed while making Swingers and Go with an incredible cast that featured Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente and Chris Cooper. Most of all, it let the James Bond films know that there was a new kid in town. Die Another Day would open later that year and no doubt Jason Bourne had rocked the boat. Let us hope the newest installment, The Bourne Ultimatum will remind Barbara Broccoli not to ruin the goodwill created by Casino Royale. Barbara, under no circumstances, turn Daniel Craig into a lame Roger Moore wannabe. Right now, the ball is in her court to continue the raw tone of last year's Casino Royale.

Bringing Paul Greengrass on to direct The Bourne Supremacy remains one of the great ideas in an industry where no one knows what will work at all. Greengrass brought his bag of tricks from Bloody Sunday and it paid off many times over. The pulse pounding car chase through Moscow remains one of my favorite action sequences of recent years. That sequence and the whole film stay with you long after you leave the theater. Greengrass does not give us much time to catch our breath as The Bourne Ultimatum picks up right after the events of the last film. Greengrass decided to use his break between films to make United 93. The man has lost none of his edge and he has a thing for making sure you never look at your watch during one of his films. The story of The Bourne Ultimatum is rather simple, Bourne is on a quest to unlock the secrets of his past. How did he become Jason Bourne? How did he become this perfect killing machine? While he is on this quest, he once again must dodge and do battle with an array of assassins. Throughout the film, Bourne has a recurring flashback that evolves throughout the course of the film-- a stunning homage to Charles Bronson's Harmonica's evolving flashback in Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. It also brings to mind the way Alex Murphy's memory is recalled in Paul Verhoeven's Robocop. For the audience, it is that slow revelation that has been building up for the three Bourne films. We want to know who made Jason Bourne like this and why. What were the reasons? Valerie Plame never had to worry about these things like Jason Bourne. In the Bourne films, the CIA is an all powerful and all knowing intelligence agency. In the real world, they may not be as sharp as Hollywood has made them out to be. While in the films, they on top of their game. Tim Weiner's Legacy Of Ashes: The History Of The CIA is the antithesis of these films-- I wish my Dad would finish that book so I can read it next. His quest takes us to England where Guardian reporter, Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), has been writing articles about Bourne and the people who programmed him. Bourne needs to get a hold of Ross. While Bourne manages to find Ross, it is short-lived. Ross is taken out and Bourne must go home in every sense of the word.

Jason Bourne comes home for The Bourne Ultimatum and it is a day of reckoning for everyone involved. New York City has enough problems! David Strathairn's Noah Vosen is one of those bastard government agency types who could qualify as a true believer. He really believes in his mission. Vosen makes Cliff Robertson's Higgins in Three Days Of The Condor look like the Good Humor Man. Vosen is part of an unholy trinity of men who would like to eliminate Jason Bourne. Scott Glenn's Ezra Kramer and Albert Finney's Dr. Albert Hirsh make up the other members. It keeps them up at night knowing that he is still alive. Not everyone is out to get Bourne. He finds allies in Julia Stiles’ Nicky Parsons and Joan Allen's Pamela Landy. Both actresses give remarkable performances-- we expect nothing less from Joan Allen. She is a class act who has brought so much to these films. Allen's Landy is the good mother; she wants to bring Jason in under her terms; she wants to help him. Vosen and his band of assassins would like to do away with Bourne for good. Bourne’s survival would be the end of the ultra secret special ops program; careers would be destroyed. Throughout the film, Bourne manages to outwit and eliminate everyone that Vosen sends his way. Does Vosen know with whom he is dealing with? Once Bourne returns to America, the real fun starts. I did not know that NYPD police cruisers could endure that kind of action. The car chase through the streets of New York City has to be seen to be believed. You will be on the edge of your seat, Paul Greengrass gives us no time to rest. Jason Bourne versus every assassin in the world. The odds do not look too good for the assassins. As Bourne returns to his birthplace, we are treated to the torture of America's recent past. Dr. Albert Hirsch is America's dark side. He represents evil via both versions of The Manchurian Candidate. We have been waiting for the Hirsch/ Bourne confrontation for five years. It does not disappoint.

Matt Damon has said this will be his last film as Jason Bourne. While there are no more books by Robert Ludlum, Eric Lustbader has written two Jason Bourne books. I would love to see Matt Damon reconsider. On a side note, Lustbader is the perfect heir to continue the Ludlum tradition. I loved his Ninja books. For me, The Bourne films represent a great trilogy of fast paced heart pounding action films. They stay with you long after you leave the theater. Paul Greengrass continues his hand held dizzying camera work which heightens the intensity of this outing. Oliver Wood's cinematography is divine. Wood has made each film look incredible. Christopher Rouse comes back with his rapid fire editing skills that made United 93 and The Bourne Supremacy work so well. Greengrass is no fool; he knows a film like this comes together in the editing suite.

I will miss Jason Bourne. The films have been an enormous success on every level. Having said that, I would welcome a film adaptation of Robert Ludlum's The Matarese Circle and The Matarese Countdown. We have a whole generation of film makers who respect the source material. I am glad to see Robert Ludlum getting the cinematic respect he deserves. It is very nice to see a third film in a series be as excellent as this one. No third film curse with The Bourne Ultimatum. Jason Bourne forever!