After making two action films with subtle political undertones (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) and a haunting thriller that traded in political grandstanding for harrowing drama (United 93), director Paul Greengrass returns with Green Zone, a movie that deals with our early beginnings in the middle east conflict. This film is technically superb and features a strong performance by a stoic Matt Damon as Roy Miller, a Chief Warrant Officer who's desperately looking to make sense out of a maddeningly chaotic situation.

Green Zone (written by Brian Helgeland and based on a book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran) is careful and well balanced in its look at both sides of the political spectrum. Many of the soldiers --including Damon's Miller--are portrayed as righteous do gooders, while others (Jason Isaacs) come across as mindless goons. Many of the local civilians are peaceful individuals while some have ties to terrorism. Several high ranking politicians have noble intentions while others are evil bureaucrats who'll walk over whoever they want to bury the truth. Again, Greengrass paints a fairly well balanced picture of the conflict in the middle east--until the final act when he blatantly points a finger. Not that the heavy handed nature of the last thirty minutes of the picture took away from my over all enjoyment of The Green Zone.

Clearly Greengrass is trying to entertain and educate at the same time, but I would have preferred a little more ambiguity. One of the things I greatly admired about The Hurt Locker was its ability to to steer clear of obvious polemics. You can watch that film and you can say to yourself; "I know why our men are out there," or you'd could watch that film and say; "I don't understand why our men have to be there." Kathryn Bigelow wisely lets the audience decide for themselves. But then, The Hurt Locker is more about the effects of war than the war itself. Greengrass has a different agenda here. The end result is a mixed bag, but overall, Green Zone is worth watching for its technical merits and its terrific performances. Greengrass is one of maybe three or four directors in the industry who can get away with this whole hand-held film making approach. United 93 remains his masterwork, but Green Zone isn't without its powerful moments.

Grade: B-