2004’s The Bourne Supremacy catapulted Paul Greengrass into stardom as a director.  He also directed the 2007 follow-up, The Bourne Ultimatum.  In between, he directed the documentary-style United 93, which very few people saw - likely due both to its style and its content (the real-life tragedy of 9/11).  The Bourne movies weren’t my favorite films, but United 93 was so well-crafted that I gained a respect for Greengrass.  Green Zone, his latest project,  seems to join the two together.  Posing as a Hollywood action film, Green Zone is actually yet another based-on-actual-events political mouthpiece that delivers a critical blow at the Bush administration’s politics in the hunt for WMDs.

While the film never claims to be “Based on actual events” in its titles, it’s pretty true to the mark.  The characters here are given other names, but the conspiracy is as clear as Greengrass and Damon’s political point of view; finding WMDs benefitted the government.  It justified their war, so they manufactured cause.  Of course, this fictitious history lesson isn’t exactly fun to watch.  Hence Green Zone’s weak performance at the box office (to date, it’s $4 million short of recouping its $100M budget).  Still, if you’re in the mood for bid-budget action, this one at least leaves you thinking...