13 years ago, Matt Damon managed to shoot himself into the A-list thanks to writing partner Ben Affleck, and collaboration Good Will Hunting. Or so he thought. Despite critical acclaim, and an Academy Award for the screenplay, Damon’s door wasn’t exactly being beaten down. He picked up some big parts here or there, but was struggling to make the big breakthrough to solid A-list. He was dogged by the label of Ben Affleck’s sidekick, and maybe also by that ill advised public break-up. You know the one.
It wasn’t until Steven Soderbergh picked up the phone and offered Damon a part in Ocean’s Eleven that his career really took off. It was during production of Ocean’s that Damon agreed to take on the role of Jason Bourne in the Bourne Identity. The movie proved popular, and grew into a series. Director Paul Greengrass took the helm for sequels Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum. Greengrass and Damon struck up a great working relationship, and the series catapulted Damon into superstardom. Green Zone is the third time the two have worked together, and the first not of the Bourne series.
Matt Damon plays Roy Miller, a US warrant officer helping a senior CIA officer search for weapons of mass destruction during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Along with the Bourne series, Damon has gained critical success recently in Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant. In it, Damon portrayed real life corporate informant Mark Whitacre, gaining weight and becoming almost unrecognisable for the part. It was his 6th film with Soderbergh, following parts in the Ocean’s series, Syriana, and Che Part 2.
Green Zone also stars Brendan Gleeson. Gleeson is an Irish character actor probably best known for the role of Alastor Moody in the Harry Potter franchise. Gregg Kinear plays Clark Poundstone, a shady Pentagon Special Intelligence officer. Kinnear came to prominance when he was nominated for an Academy Award for the part of Jack Nicholson’s gay neighbour in As Good As It Gets, and has recently starred in the Oscar nominated film Little Miss Sunshine. Amy Ryan, also nominated for an Oscar for 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, and known for TV roles in The Office and The Wire, plays Lawrie Dayne. Dayne is a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal following the hunt for WMD’s, investigating the US government’s claims of their existence.
Whilst on the hunt for chemical weapons, Miller instead finds evidence of a massive cover up, and goes in search of the truth. Trying to manoeuvre in an increasingly hostile and unstable region, Miller tries to survive whilst seeking answers to a constantly twisting question. Facing opposition from both sides of the conflict, he finds that even those purportedly on his side are working under their own agendas.
Rounding out the cast are Nicoye Banks (Brooklyn’s Finest), Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood), and Martin McDougall. Actor Khalid Abdalla impressed director Greengrass with his performance in United 93, which has won him the role of an injured Iraqi.
British director Paul Greengrass has built up a reputation for realistic, highly dramatic films based around real events. The Irish director was nominated for an Academy Awards for the 9/11 based film United 93, and also won critical acclaim for his dramatization of the Irish civil rights massacre, Bloody Sunday. More recently he has become known as the director of the last two Bourne movies. His use of steadicam shots to depict tense action sequences and his history of politically based movies makes him the ideal director for this project.
Green Zone is based on the non-fiction novel Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Like The Hurt Locker, the story is an adaptation of the accounts of an embedded reporter present in a warzone, which could give it a leg up at the box office, particularly if Kathryn Bigelow’s film does well at this weekend’s Oscars. The story was adapted by screenwriter Brian Helgeland. Helgeland has a mixed reputation. He won an Oscar for the fantastic screenplay for LA Confidential, and was nominated for Mystic River. However he also wrote The Postman and A Knight’s Tale, so the quality of the writing could go either way.
Based on the trailer, Green Zone is being sold more on the blistering action than on the politically based storyline. This could be a wise move, particularly as the mediocre performance of The Hurt Locker at the box office suggests America may not be fully ready for a politically sensitive war movie. It is a shame though, as Greengrass has shown in all his movies an ability to portray sensitive drama in a sympathetic and compelling way.
March is a busy month at the box office, and opening just a week after Alice in Wonderland may hurt Green Zone’s chances, though the target demographic is remarkably different. Damon has a high profile as a result of the Bourne series, though that didn’t help The Informant, which arguably underperformed at the box office. Aside from Damon, there is a shortage of big names. As a result, Green Zone may struggle to make back its inflated budget. As far as critical success goes, the presence of Greengrass bodes well, though the writing of Helgeland is the wild card. Here’s hoping it sways more in the direction of LA Confidential. Early test screenings prompted rumours of overuse of ‘shaky-cam’, and the buzz wasn’t overwhelmingly positive, but that was around the middle of last year, so there has been plenty of time to fix any potential problems with more editing.
Green Zone is released in the US and UK this Friday 12th March. Gary’s review will be posted next week, until then you can find the trailer here to whet your appetite.
Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann
