War film misses the mark

With all the subtlety of sledgehammer to the head, director Paul Greengrass (“Bourne Supremacy,” “Bourne Ultimatum”) brings his thinly veiled allegory concerning the origins of the U.S involvement in the Iraqi conflict to the big screen. “Green Zone” is the latest in the list of contemporary war films focusing on American operations in the Middle East. It also reunites Greengrass with “Bourne” star Matt Damon.

Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller. Miller has been charged with chasing down leads regarding weapons of mass destruction. Intelligence provided by a high-priority target has Miller and his team heading from site to site across Iraq. Despite reassurances from top military officials, there has yet to be a trace of weapons found at any location. Everyone remembers that the American involvement in Iraq was based on the danger posed by Saddam Hussein’s arsenal of WMDs. If you do not remember, you are fully refreshed within 12 minutes of the start of “Green Zone.”

Despite a strong cast consisting of Damon, Greg Kinnear and Brendan Gleeson (“Braveheart,” “Harry Potter”) the film succeeds only in reiterating the belief that WMDs were used as a reason to invade despite our knowledge of their lack of existence.

U.S. government official Clark Poundstone (Kinnear) is hell-bent on finding the WMDs so that they can be paraded across every news agency in the world, thereby justifying the invasion. CIA operative Martin Brown (Gleeson) is not as sure of WMDs, or U.S. strategy, as Poundstone. Brown has been involved in the Middle East for years and is dead set against the U.S. putting in a newly returned Iraqi to head the new government. Brown assures Poundstone and staff that pushing this figurehead into power will only result in civil war. Despite his warnings, Poundstone and staff move ahead with both the WMD search and installation of new leadership.

“Green Zone’s” nearly nonexistent plot borders on childish, and any thought of the flick containing genuine suspense is almost comical. It is solely the raw talent of the three main leads that keeps the film from falling into the abyss of laughable film history.

Brown and Miller know what is at stake and make a move to find out the truth concerning the WMDs. If they can secure one of Saddam’s generals before Poundstone, they can find the information they need in order to stop any more carnage from occurring. Poundstone brings to bear the weight of the U.S. Special Forces and races against Miller in securing the target.

Even though Greengrass delivered high-octane classics with both of his “Bourne” films, he completely misses the mark with “Green Zone.” The film is very poorly edited and never finds a comfortable rhythm allowing the audience to be a part of the story. Instead, it preaches between segments of poorly written dialogue and hastily concocted action.

Damon is right there with Hanks, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington. They are sure things. They are the A-list. Sadly, this film is the antithesis of all that. “Green Zone” is a confused mess of a political statement sold to an unsuspecting public as a topnotch thriller with cleverly vague allusions to the “Bourne” films. If nothing else, it seems that the folks in marketing learned something from the Iraq invasion.

Rating: W W