Release Date: March 12, 2010

(out of 4)

The unstable region of Baghdad following March 19, 2003 is the subject of "Green Zone," the new Iraq military drama which has an action movie pulse and the presence of stalwart Matt Damon, playing Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller who is a man of sweat and non-stopping motion. Following the initial military strikes of Iraq of the invasion date, Miller’s team is unable to find any weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on mission searches. This quickly prompts skepticism in Miller’s perspective on Pentagon intelligence.

Frenetic action cameras make the promise that this is going to be a desert war movie, but let’s not mince words, we’re talking about Iraq here. No war movies set in Iraq have done bang-up business at the box office (Best Picture Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker” will make more dough in DVD sales than it did in its theatrical run), and the public has fastidiously avoided documentaries like “No End in Sight” and “Taxi to the Dark Side.”

Exception might be made for this Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Ultimatum”) movie which has the charge of an action thriller. But when you take out all the noise it is more of a drama of a military squad at work (conducting routine field work and trying not to kill), and of course, the idea of defiance. Miller stops listening to the brass and begins consulting with CIA man Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) and enlists a born Iraqi who calls himself Freddy (Khalid Abdalla) to guide him on his own expeditions of the truth.

The idea of Matt Damon gone rogue is a recipe for successful box office formula, as proven by the Jason Bourne series. As for Hollywood movies putting together a mainstream simplified idea of what went wrong in the early days of Iraq, as starvation and destitution ravaged the people and government anarchy wreaked vast, “Green Zone” is not entirely reliable but it is nevertheless entertaining and gives us a broad overview picture on the subject.

Other than a television clip of the real George W. on CNN, most of the characters are composites of numerous individuals. The most clear-cut wormy official is Greg Kinnear as Clark Poundstone, who is a Defense Intelligence specialist who also does the backwards job of manipulating American public opinion. Amy Ryan is the Wall Street Journalist who is deemed responsible for inaccurate press feedings to American media.

Out to find the definitive truth is Miller, whom at first tracks down various leads through Baghdad for the search of WMD’s and then figuring out no matter where he looks he is not going to find any. Instead, he goes on the hunt for one of Saddam Hussein’s men who is referred to as “the Jack of Clubs.” What doesn’t make sense if Miller’s over-reliance on Freddy, who can barely get around on his prosthetic leg yet seems to be there every time Miller needs him.

If there are any clips to be made famous from this movie it will be Damon bellowing “Put your game face on” and “Unacceptable” which he invokes with mean but sincere contempt. But the end chase sequence, as excitingly staged as it is and captured by endless multiple angles by Greengrass, becomes dramatically unacceptable – it is simplification and contrivance met at one intersection. Lest be reminded that this is a mainstream entertainment.

What makes “Green Zone” stand out is its amazing location work with its messy and jagged surroundings. Immersed into these locales makes every beat of the film palpitate with high tension. You may not believe five or six scenes (maybe more, depending on how knowledge-detail you are about the Iraq invasion) but you are never bored. Greengrass’ frenzied, fast-cutting isn’t for all audience digestive systems, but if you enjoy the Bourne’s series immediate-to-the-max urgency, then this film will draw you in as well even if you do have a contempt for composites and convenient plot structures.