Shrek 4

Green Zone (2009)

Paul Greengrass's Green Zone is a sort of backward-looking thriller about the lack of WMD's found in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. At the risk of undermining what was actually a pretty good cat-and-mouse action flick, I'm getting bored with the idea that individuals are invariably at the intersecting points of all American missteps. In this case, it's an interim government hack (played by the always-forgettable Greg Kinnear, and I mean that in a strangely good way that I can't properly explain) charged with the post-invasion occupation of Iraq. What bugs me about this kind of film is the proclivity scriptwriters have for inserting a single bad guy who's overstepped his authority to take the place of (and fall for) a hawkish government and warmongering people. It smacks of oversimplification and hypocrisy. It might make for good copy and movie scripts but Green Zone is just too black and white to be taken seriously.
 
This is Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham stuff and serves to deflect criticism away from the systemic failures of the American people and their institutions. It might be naïve to ever expect, but a truly honest American film about Iraq has yet to be made. This one scratches and sniffs around at accountability, but never quite has the balls to place blame where it belongs... which is squarely in the hands of Americans themselves. Forget the politics and treat this as Bourne-lite in Persia and you'll have same fun. Thankfully, Paul I-can't-hold-the-fucking-camera-still Greengrass reigns in the jackhammer tripod cinematography a little bit this time and it makes the process of watching Green Zone less headache-inducing than his last few films.
 
And what gives with Greengrass always picking scripts where we all know the outcome?  
 
 
Sporgey