Didn't zone out during Green Zone

GREEN ZONE

Directed by Paul Greengrass
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
Based on the book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Roy Miller – Matt Damon
Martin Brown – Brendan Gleeson
Clark Poundstone – Greg Kinnear
Freddie – Khalid Abdallah 

Yesterday was a "green" day or better known as St. Patty's Day, another excuse to drink green beer and pretend to talk with an Irish accent.

Well, I had some time to kill before my friend's Celtic band played last night so I decided to slip into the theater for Green Zone, Matt Damon's latest action adventure.  Written by Brian Helgeland (based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone") and directed by Paul Greengrass, Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, a very committed army man who uncovers the truth about Weapons of Mass Destruction (or lack of) in Baghdad .  In his quest to uncover the truth we see Greengrass spin the suspense and blurring excitement that he is know for in The Bourne series (2004 and 2007).

The plot is driven by the conflict of good and evil, only this time the "evil" is a blundering, self-serving head of state played by Greg Kinnear, as well as the unseen Iraqi faction.  The "good" is CIA chief Martin Brown, played skillfully, but with a wavering American accent, by Brendan Gleeson.  Also of note was the wonderful performance by Khalid Abdallah as an Iraqi local who calls himself Freddie, unwittingly shanghaied into interpreting for Lt. Miller during the bulk of the movie.

The characters are a little broad and it could be argued that we are Iraq war movied to death, but the fact that the war is still ongoing without end in sight, and the revealing plot behind this movie should be another jolt to wake up even the most apathetic American to wondering why we are really there at all, and how distrustful we have rightfully become of our own government here in the most "free" country in the world.  It all plays out, as does our real involvement in world affair and warfare, a little too much like Wag The Dog (1997).

This movie kept my attention throughout, and although average fare for a war movie, hit just a little too close for home....just coming out a little too late maybe for anyone to care or take notice.   The "why" we have again escalated the war in Afghanistan is the subject for a whole other movie....which might just come out in a timely fashion like this movie, in 2016.... 7 years after we need to know the truth.  Oh yeah, I forgot..... you can't handle the truth!