Eye Candy #433 - "Green Zone"

Green Zone:  Mis-marketed at the time of release (the ad guys would have you believe it was “Bourne Lite” from the same star and director of those films), “Green Zone” was “inspired” by the book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City”, an expose on the background workings of pre-/post-invasion Iraq justification, with the film lifting characters from real-life individuals involved. It is a thriller involving various American functionaries, within the military and without, in cahoots about faked WMD data used as the basis for the invasion of Iraq, entangled in a vast conspiracy that CWO Roy Miller (Matt Damon), as head of a WMD removal team, find himself strung along by in an effort to hide their malfeasance, personified most strongly by corrupt politician Poundstone (Greg Kinnear). So Miller takes it upon himself to gather the information to expose the truth, even if it puts him in harm’s way from both sides of the conflict. While I found the film middle-of-the-road in terms of quality (it’s watchable, but not great), I do worry that some people will take it as gospel truth even if events portrayed in the film don’t correlate to something real. Richard “Monty” Gonzales, the character upon which Roy Miller is based, has set this firmly as a work of fiction to be enjoyed as an action film rather than a polemic. This film also did lousy at the box office because Americans don’t want to go see movies that make the bulk of them on screen look callous, stupid, or criminal. And the “Green Zone” provides VERY few reputable Americans to rally behind – most are depicted relaxing poolside, enjoying parties, and leading indolent lives while outside the Green Zone, the gunfights rage. Woodchuck sez, “Fine for what it’s not.”