Since 9/11, our lives have revolved (to one extent or another) around the conflict in the Middle East. Some of us know people who have been deployed there or know people who know people. Even if you aren’t personally touched by the conflict, you can’t escape it – whether you see it on the news, pay higher prices at the gas pump or if you watched last week’s Oscar telecast. The latest Hollywood take is Green Zone, the third collaboration between star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass after the second and third Bourne films.

The film is set in Iraq in 2003 during the search for those elusive WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) supposedly created during Saddam Hussein’s regime. The two (reported) primary reasons of the U.S. invasion of Iraq was to catch terrorists who might be planning future 9/11s and to find the WMDs that might be used for such attacks.

Green Zone refers to the American occupied safe area in the middle of Baghdad around Hussein’s Republican palace. Damon plays Roy Miller, the leader of a military team using government intelligence to find the hidden stockpiles of WMDs. However, when every search turns up empty and he is told not to ask questions, Miller begins to believe that a government cover-up is in progress.

With information provided by Brendan Gleeson’s CIA operative Martin Brown and Amy Ryan’s Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, Miller finds out that U.S. intelligence was informed by one of Iraq’s top generals, Al Rawi, prior to the invasion that Iraq did not have any WMDs. Now certain U.S. factions want the general dead, and it’s up to Miller to find Al Rawi – and the truth – before they do.

In general, I’m not typically fond of war movies, but I am usually fond of Damon and Greengrass. This movie didn’t disappoint. For people who like action, Green Zone certainly delivers that. For those who care more about character and story, Green Zone delivers that, too.

I like movies that can blend the two, which is rare nowadays. You usually get great action, but a laughable story and/or forgettable characters.

I walked out of the theater wanting to find out more information and wanting to read the book on which the film is based. When a movie makes me want to do research for fun, then I have to give it an ...