Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Culture

Entertaining, but plot holes aplenty

byStaff writers
14 March 2010
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

GREEN ZONE

Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla, and Jason Isaacs.

Directed: Paul Greengrass.

Rated M (mature themes, violence, and coarse language). 115 min.

Reviewed by Peter W. Sheehan

THIS film is based on a book by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, itself based on war in the Green Zone, Baghdad.

It is an action thriller set in Iraq, following the invasion of that country by America in 2003.

It deals with events that are a part of history, and mingles fiction and fact about war in that country and those who are engaged in it.

Tapping into the action genre represented well by The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum the director of those two movies, Paul Greengrass, establishes a packed thriller in this film around events that spill out onto the screen with a relentless pace.  

 Matt Damon plays the role of Roy Miller, a warrant officer who helps a CIA colleague in the search for weapons of mass destruction.

Related Stories

From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Amy Ryan is a journalist, Lawrie Dayne, who works for The Wall Street Journal and who is investigating the US Government’s claims that weapons of mass destruction actually existed in Iraq to justify America’s invasion.

Greengrass is reported to have said that “it is never too soon for cinema to engage with events that shape our lives”, but it is hard to distinguish in this movie the elements of fiction that illustrate a good yarn, and those parts of the plot that hide reflective truth about war in general, and the invasion of Iraq, in particular.

 History has moved us beyond the issue of whether weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. Most have the view that such weapons did not exist.

The impact of the film lies in how that issue is extended, or best explained, in the aftermath of the invasion that took place.

Typical of the Bourne-thriller mode, we learn that conspiracies exist and the honesty of people on both sides, both in and out of Government, cannot be assumed.

Around that general premise, the film sets a series of action scenes that are well photographed, tense and highly explosive, and the film’s cinematographer, Barry Ackroyd, brings them effectively to the screen with photography that has grainy realism.

 This is a film that carries on the Bourne tradition, and maintains the expected level of tension.

Actions sequences abound, and the film will unquestionably entertain.

Bourne goes epic in this movie, as the commercial tag-line for the film says, but those who go to see it to be entertained should be prepared to place outside of their mind what is happening in Iraq and to tolerate naivety in the plot-line.

This movie has some exciting moments of high adventure, but the mix of factual events and imaginative story-telling in it is not very compelling.

Peter W. Sheehan is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Suspenseful look at the folly of war

Next Post

Pastoral plan

Staff writers

Related Posts

News

From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

23 May 2022
Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

20 May 2022
Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Next Post

Pastoral plan

Hundreds gather to rally for life

St George priest lives a life full of adventure

Popular News

  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Fr Liam receives bravery medal after shark attack rescue

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

News

From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

by Mark Bowling
23 May 2022
0

ANTHONY Albanese, a self-described cultural Catholic, has been sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister today, after...

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

20 May 2022
Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping