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Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla ... see more see more... , Jason Isaacs , Antoni Corone , Igal Naor , Said Faraj , Aymen Hamdouchi , Nicoye Banks , Jerry Della Salla , Sean Huze , Raad Rawi , Bijan Daneshmand , Bryan Reents , Michael O'Neill , Allen Vaught , Paul Rieckhoff , Martin McDougall , Driss Roukhe , Muayad Ali , Soumaya Akaaboune , Faical Attougui , John Roberson , James Brown , Michael Judge , Paul Jones , Patrick St. Esprit , Tim Ahern , Whitley Bruner , Intishal Al Timmi , Jamal Selamoui , Mohamed Kafi , Kadhum Sabur , Boubker Hilal , Thamou el Metouani , Salah Eddine Elamari , Naji El Jouhary , Aroun Benchkaroun , Hajar Machroune , William Oakes , Ziad Adwan , Ian Bendel , Venie Joshua , Miguel Berroa , Peter Shayhorn , Miguel Palaugalarza , Christopher Lilly , Omar Berdouni , Sabir Ed-Dayab , Alex Moore , Alistair Bailey , Paul Cloutier , Wallace Bagwell , William Meredith , Tommy Campbell , James 'Kimo' Wills , Jered Bezemek , Johnny Nilsson , Michael Dwyer , Edouard H.R. Gluck , Brian Siefkes , Adam Wendling , Abdul Henderson , Paul Karsko , Robert Miller , Eugene Cherry , Alexander Drum , Brian Van Riper , Matthew Knott , Nathan Lewis , Salman Hassan , Ammar Khdir , Youssif Falah-Jassem , Latif Al Anzi

United 93 director Paul Greengrass explores the aftermath of the Iraq invasion in this feature adaptation of author Rajiv Chandrasekaran's literary exposé Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Ira... read more read more...q's Green Zone. A onetime Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post, Chandrasekaran was present as American forces attempted to set up a provisional government on the grounds surrounding former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's opulent palace. The resulting governing body, according to critics, existed in a bubble so far-removed from the grim realities of the Iraq War that it failed to properly assess the needs of the people. In this fictional thriller set during the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad, director Greengrass and screenwriter Brian Helgeland use Chandrasekaran's journalistic account as the foundation for the story of an officer who joins forces with a senior CIA officer to unearth evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) is certain that Hussein has been stockpiling WMDs in the Iraqi desert, but in their race from one empty site to the next, they soon stumble across evidence of an elaborate cover up. As a result, Miller realizes that operatives on both sides of the conflict are attempting to spin the story in their favor. Now, as Miller searches for answers made ever more elusive by covert and faulty intelligence, the truth becomes the most valuable weapon of all. Will those answers prove pivotal in clearing a rogue regime, or escalate the war in a region that grows increasingly unstable with each passing day? Amy Ryan co-stars as the New York Times foreign correspondent who travels to Iraq investigating the U.S. government's allegations about weapons of mass destruction, with Greg Kinnear appearing in the role of an additional CIA officer, and Antoni Corone essaying the role of a colonel. Brendan Gleeson rounds out the main cast for this Universal Pictures production. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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59% liked it

147,879 ratings

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53% liked it

176 critics

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: Paul Greengrass

Release Date: March 12, 2010

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DVD Release Date: June 22, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (8,513)

  • fb1463751009
    March 9, 2012
    fb1463751009
    Let's get this out of the way: The plot of this movie was way too simplistic and ridiculous. However, Paul Greengrass always seems to drive kinetic, fast-paced, tense action throughout the entire movie. I was very, very entertained.
  • fb7018436
    January 6, 2012
    fb7018436
    The Iraq war was about oil man. Nevermind the fact that the largest oil contracts in Iraq after the US invasion went to PetroChina and Sinopec, both state oil companies of China.
  • DreamExtractor
    August 15, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    Green Zone is one ofthose movies that make us love war films, and other than the awful camera work, this is a great war movie.
  • binky013
    July 22, 2011
    binky013
    Those non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction. Damn. It took me three nights to get through this movie. If you are at all bothered about the grand, horrible US lie regarding WMD, this movie will make you downright mentally ill.

    It's a good thing that Bush, Cheney, Rove, R

    ... read moreumsfeld, Powell, Rice and the rest of those lying, money-grubbing SOBs all assert that they are good Christians. Why is this good, you may ask? It's good because it means that they are all headed to the place that Christians term Hell. And they will burn in ultimate misery because of their evil, stupid, greed-driven waste of so many lives, military and civilian. Good riddance to Bush-Co. May God torture you all with every imaginable excruciating punishment for all eternity and beyond.
  • fb535316333
    July 21, 2011
    fb535316333
    Largely harmless (or not if you're one of "those" Americans) gritty action flick hung on a every day working formula and themes in a successful politically charged plot. Not bad at all, but I wish it didn't feel like I was watching a Jason Bourne spin-off the whole time.

    Then ag... read moreain, Jason Bourne was pretty damn good.
  • garyX
    March 22, 2011
    garyX
    The Bourne team are once again reunited to tell the story of a US soldier investigating WMD sites who stumbles upon a conspiracy involving the government and an Iraqi general. The combination of Paul "shakycam" Greengrass and Matt Damon, playing his usual likeable action man of t... read morehe people was always going to invite comparisons with their previous collaborations. It has the same formula of breathless action and convoluted conspiracies, but in this case, despite the larger themes involved the plot seems a lot more simplistic. Failing to address the role of corporate interests and the propaganda "war on terror", Green Zone prefers to point the finger at a faceless, corrupt minority operating outside the purview of the moral majority which always seemed to me to be a bit like providing invisible, intangible scapegoats for the actions of those truly responsible. The story is obviously told with the aid of 20-20 hindsight and it all feels a bit revisionist but taken as a piece of pure entertainment, it's pretty solid. In other words, if you're a Bourne fan you won't be disappointed; just don't expect any earth shattering insight from it.
  • paulsandberg
    January 25, 2011
    paulsandberg
    Just as it is hard to ascertain what is fact and what is fiction regarding the Iraqi War, the Green Zone is equally as hard to pin down. Based on a Non-Fiction book, one would assume that the events are factual, but here you just never know, as the US government spin-doctors obf... read moreuscate and distort every piece of media to its own advantage. How much is fact here, and how much fiction? Does it matter? Is this a documentary or an action film based on rumours? There is a beautiful lyric by Collective Soul that is apropos here:"Question your answers".

    The film contains several conspiracy theories - from the WMD issue to whether or not factions within the US government went against better reasoning and ousted the Iraqi military hierarchy in support of a puppet regime that it thought it could better control. The end result of course was years of war as, with the country destabilized, the different religious factions all fought for control.

    Amidst all the political maneuvering, backstabbing, and lies, the film does an admirable job of letting you see behind the curtain - from the shock and awe and arrogance of the US military, to the incredible waste of both lives and materials... and for what end? Director Greengrass lets you feel the senselessness of it all, mainly by following Matt Damon as he follows military intel in an attempt to find the elusive weapons of mass destruction.

    Damon is very solid as the elite squad leader, as are the many supporting roles, including Amy Ryan as the Wall Street Journal reporter who first reported (from a "government source") the WMDs. Brendan Gleeson is wonderful as the CIA operative, who at one point tells Damon that he won't find any WMD at the next intel site, since the UN already searched the site months before. Finally, there is Greg Kinnear portraying the slimy government guy in charge, who, in a nice touch, gets to see the fruits of his questionable labor: the different Iraqi factions all yelling at each other and then leaving the negotiation table. Oops, and you thought that installing your puppet would be easy and all would be well.

    The pacing of the film is quite nice, ratcheting up the tension with cut scenes from one point of view to another - especially effective in the scenes involving the invasion of the safe house where all the Iraqi military higher ups are meeting. But the quick pace is a two edged sword, as the film cannot keep escalating the pace and the penultimate chase scene (which involves Damon, his crew, the US military under Kinnear's direction, and the Iraqi General) in spite of some nice camera work, seems overlong.

    I felt that Greengrass did a nice job with a convoluted script (how could it not be, considering the topics involved), and I enjoyed the message of the film (spoken by an Iraqi national to Damon: "you do not decide what happens here" - well maybe the US did ultimately decide, it just took five years and thousand of lives to get to where it could have been at the outset if politicos like the character portrayed by Kinnear would have had a better understanding of what they were getting into, and perhaps a lot less hubris).

    Of course the film isn't perfect - sliding just a bit into Hollywoodism for the film's payoff. Just wondering how Damon continues to have access to the room with all the high and mighty... as if every leutenant or special forces dude can just waltz into the white house any time they feel like it... also one could argue that Damon coulda,woulda been court-marshalled for disobeying orders and continually going off the grid - maybe they confused him with Jason Bourne...
  • sanjurosamurai
    January 21, 2011
    sanjurosamurai
    a well made action/war film that was interesting and very entertaining but isnt the sort of film that will stick with me over time. the end was a bit silly following such a believable story to that point, but damon was solid as always and the political undertones didnt go far en... read moreough to take away from the energy of the film so overall it was very solid.
  • smith44
    January 19, 2011
    smith44
    Now that the Iraq War is winding down we can expect to see many more movies dealing with the war, hopefully they will be as intelligent and critically rigorous as Green Zone. A film that deals directly with the supposed impetus for the war, the Weapons of Mass Destruction, which ... read moresimply weren't there. The film subtly suggests that the Green Zone, the 'safe' zone of the Allies head-quaters, is the most dangerous zone of all. An important milestone in the depiction of the Iraq War from Hollywood.
  • fb619846742
    December 16, 2010
    fb619846742
    A political thriller from the usually solid Paul Greengrass, whose political agenda takes center stage here, in a story concerning a dedicated US soldier who catches wind of a conspiracy that the US invasion of Iraq took place under false pretenses. While Damon puts out another c... read moreompetent performance, and the action scenes do bring the goods, this liberal propaganda piece pushes its agenda to far down its audience's throats eventually. It also paints its characters too obviously, as Kinnear becomes the regular douchey corporate bad guy, Isaacs as the soul-less thug officer, and Ryan as the innocent but nice-enough reporter. The ending tries so hard to be poetic and fitting, but instead it just comes across as pretty ridiculous.

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Critic Reviews

Laremy Legel
May 6, 2011
Laremy Legel, Film.com

Green Zone is the rare miss from frequent collaborators Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass. Full Review

Peter Rainer
January 3, 2011
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

It's one thing for the filmmakers to (sort of) fictionalize real people, but Green Zone wraps up with a wish-fulfillment fantasy that is about as believable as watching reinforcements riding in to sav... Full Review

Liam Lacey
March 12, 2010
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Reduces policies that caused the deaths of thousands to the equivalent of a first-person-shooter video game. Full Review

Tom Long
March 12, 2010
Tom Long, Detroit News

Green Zone hits hard and doesn't forgive. It plays out like fiction, and in some ways it is. But in too many ways, it's not. Full Review

A.O. Scott
March 12, 2010
A.O. Scott, New York Times

When Mr. Greengrass made United 93, his 2006 reconstruction of one of the Sept. 11 hijackings, some people fretted that it was too soon. My own response to Green Zone is almost exactly the opposite: i... Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
March 12, 2010
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Damon's the anchor, a fine one at that, but even he can't seem to hold the filmmakers' attention for long. Full Review

J. R. Jones
March 12, 2010
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Manufacturing thrills takes precedence over any kind of journalistic insight. Full Review

Chris Vognar
March 12, 2010
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

An urgent piece of work. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
March 12, 2010
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

A jangly, noisy, compulsively restless thriller on a par with the Bourne movies, shot through with political critique. Full Review

Lou Lumenick
March 12, 2010
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Politics aside and purely as a piece of genre moviemaking, Green Zone is a solid example of a political paranoia thriller. Full Review

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    • Roy Miller: Of course it matters! Reasons we go to war always matter!
    • Roy Miller: You want to sit around digging holes all day, or get something done?
    • Martin Brown: You cannot just hand this country over to an exile no one's ever heard of, and a bunch of interns from Washington.
  • Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller is done following orders.
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