If anything else the resemblance is striking. Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Rory Miller, attached to a special task force assigned to finding those elusive WMDs in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War. As Miller searches high and low across Iraq for the smoking gun to justify our presence there he continually comes up empty handed and begins to question the nature of the intelligence reports. Cue the descent into a conspiracy theory and factional infighting amongst elements of the US government about the 'real' reasons we went to war.
Yes, Green Zone is political, but it is also Hollywood, with substance. Damon is amazing as usual. There is something about the majority of his characters, an aura of integrity and humbleness which oozes through him. And this certainly suits the character he plays here. Miller is not some pinko-communist wet fish whinging about the war, but a consciences patriot, bewildered how his own freedom-loving land of hope and liberty could fabricate such a Machiavellian plot. Miller is essentially a man whose innocence has come under attack.
However, the film assumes a black and white morality when in reality the Iraq debacle is shrouded in grey. And this is the problem in big Hollywood productions; the perceived need to provide clarity instead of thoughtful ambiguity. In that sense then, the film may have missed a trick or two. It threatens to allow deliberation on several levels, but shies away at the last moment so as to provide what most American movie goers wish for, closure.
At the very least though this is a smart, thoughtful and exhilarating blockbuster with the Greengrass/Damon pairing once again in fine form. See it if you can.
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