If one was to master the art of raising expectations then they'd do a lot worse than to take a leaf out of Paul Greengrass' book. After a string of critical and commercial hits including United 93 and, of course, The Bourne Ultimatum, which, as it happens, will be his last foray in the franchise, has elevated Greengrass into the directorial stratosphere. The sense of anticipation then for Green Zone, his latest collaboration with Bourne star Matt Damon, was practically palpable. All the ingredients were there; a solid leading man, an action conceit, a race against time and all played against a suitably weighty, and contemporary, moral dilemma. So why isn't the film a resounding success? Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller - one of the Army's head bods in the hunt for WMDs in Iraq. The only problem is there appears to be a distinct lack of said weapons, frustrating the hell out of Miller and causing the tenacious soldier to start questioning his intel. The higher-ups are clearly getting the run around by their 'Magellan', the codename for their inside man in Iraq, and the outspoken Miller starts to draw the attention of the CIA (led by a rather gruff Brendan Gleeson), an insidious Pentagon suit (a brilliantly smarmy Greg Kinnear) and his Special Forces lackie (Jason Isaacs, criminally underused in a scene-chewing role). With a whiff of conspiracy in the air Miller and his team go rogue in an attempt to hunt down the insider and bring the uncomfortable facts of America's involvement in the country to the World's attention. Rather brilliantly Miller comes across as not entirely likeable. Damon channels a little bit of his Det. Sullivan from The Departed in his portrayal of the aspiring Army chief. Miller is tenacious but also naive and maddeningly stubborn. He'll side with whoever will get the job done in order to uncover the truth. Damon then is predictably strong in the role but is given a fairly run-of-the-mill plot from which to feed off of. A cursory glance at the broadsheets could have imparted knowledge of WMDs and their lack thereof in Iraq. We've all had time now to point the finger at America, who retorts that the ends justified the means. It's practically a given. Green Zone however feigns to deliver a 'complex' web of intrigue and even dares to offer up A BIG REVEAL...one that we've just been quietly assuming exists ever since the title faded in. Don't get me wrong, it's still keenly effective to note how one politico and one aspiring journo could all but bring a country to the brink of war with some little white lies but there just seems little meat on the bone. Greengrass has crafted a competent thriller to say the least. But it's not a great thriller. And therein lies the rub. Post Bourne we've come to expect greatness from the helmer but a final third dominated by a Black Hawk Down-lite siege (replete with trademark 'shaky' cam flourishes) can only offer a faint glimmer of what Green Zone could have been.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>","fnc":"googleTrackerHelper.doTrackPage( '\/'Green-Zone-film_options~21983'\/Reviews\/ViewAll\/1' );"}