The grass is always greener on the outside

This is a film about WMDs and the lack of. Hark the controversy. Personally I don’t see what the problem is. It’s not as if Bush is going to be sat there in his Halliburton boxers saying ‘shit, looks like Paul Greengrass is on to us’. There was an unjust war fought for oil. It’s over. We know it and, if this ‘fictional’ film is anything to go by so does Paul. Learn from our mistakes and get on with this review, (at the very least).

So the set-up is the shit’s hit the fan in down-town Baghdad with Americas infamous shock and awe campaign lighting up the night sky, (which was very derivative of Blade Runner if you ask me). But how did things get this way? Well a couple of days beforehand Chief Roy Miller, (Matt Damon), is given the thankless task of finding the ever loving WMD’s, (Sandra Bullock in her finest performance yet). The thing is, as we well know now there weren’t any. But Miller doesn’t know this as he continues to turn up false leads. So the question is who keeps telling him they are? This is where Greengrass free-styles as we then see Miller get on the case as he goes about uncovering the lies and deception within Baghdad with his eyes set on those darned WMD’s. CIA agent Martin Brown, (Brendan Gleeson), also pops up to help Miller in his search for the truth whilst ‘Wall Street Journal’ correspondent Lawrie Dayne, (Amy Ryan), questions Miller on his findings along with the integrity of her own previous sources.

So which way was it to KFC?

I’ll begin by saying that this, being a Greengrass film, was entertaining on a basic level as you’d expect but this isn’t enough for him having already previously set the benchmark. The cinematography was good with all the usual frenetic shaky camera-work, (which some might find jarring at times), and this I think was instrumental in keeping the pace up and me watching. The problem I felt was that it was too wrapped up in its own political stance which, although is fair enough in that it had a point to make, we could’ve seen more on the character front. Why on earth was Miller doing what he was doing? What on earth was driving him to risk everything in such a reckless manner? He’d come to ‘uncover the truth’, (which sure enough he had trouble handling), but had an enormous reserve of moral integrity which, for a film hoping to be taken realistically, (shaky camera et al), it just didn’t seem to add up. Who was this guy if not MATT-DAMON?

Training thanks to Time Crisis!

By now as you’ve probably guessed I’m more of a left-leaning person, (although I like to keep away from contemporary political labels after the whole ‘Moore .vs. Limbaugh’ thing). So it was a bit of a disappointment for me to see a film that was the cinematic equivalent of being trapped in a corner by an angry politico who’s cramming Chomsky down your throat as you desperately agree. The thing is Greengrass is a whole lot better than this. The evidence is in United 93, (and the basement, ooer). He created a far more rounded film here by simply presenting us with the facts and letting us decide. I’d like to finish though by asking why can’t we have a film from the oil traders perspective? One that is more accessible than Syriana and in a similar vein to Lord of War? I just thought I’d leave you with that.