Green ZoneMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Green Zone."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
Go
Avg. Critic Score: 63 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    It is a thriller, not a documentary. It's my belief that the nature of the neocon evildoing has by now become pretty clear. Others will disagree. The bottom line is: This is one hell of a thriller. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Christopher Rouse's rapid-fire editing nervously stitches the stunts, chases, fights and confrontations together. It's a remarkable film. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Made with daring and passion, it attempts the impossible and comes remarkably close to pulling it off. So close, in fact, that the skill and audacity used, the shock and awe of this highly entertaining attempt, are more significant than the imperfect results. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    When Mr. Greengrass made "United 93," his 2006 reconstruction of one of the Sept. 11 hijackings, some people fretted that it was too soon. My own response to Green Zone is almost exactly the opposite: it's about time. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Watchable in spite of Greengrass as much as because of him. The story is good enough to make viewers want to ignore the photography. Read full review

  • 63
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    The jittery, scattershot camerawork of Greengrass's longtime cinematographer, Barry Ackroyd, was used far more coherently in Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winning "The Hurt Locker," and the constant blurry close-ups of computer screens and street-level scrums lose their power with each successive cut. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Zone feels anticlimactic now. It also pales in comparison to Oscar-winning "The Hurt Locker," the most powerful film yet made about the Iraq war. Read full review

  • 63
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Miller's wake-up call is meant to be ours. Too little and too late? Maybe. But even in this Bourne Zone, Damon and Greengrass haven't shirked their duty to enlighten and entertain. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    With Green Zone, though, the malaise has finally hit me. So while Damon's Miller uncovers the (inconvenient) truth of why the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, all I want to know is: How does he suggest we get out? Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Once Damon's one-man truth squad goes off the reservation and starts behaving too much like Jason Bourne for comfort, the film begins not only spilling more blood but also leaking crucial credibility. Read full review

View more reviews for Green Zone on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Gripping combat thriller with anti-war edge for older teens.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this suspenseful war thriller is brimming with tense scenes and battle sequences, all of which include gunfire. Characters are almost always armed, mostly with automatic firearms though sometimes with knives, and skirmishes exact brutal, bloody casualties (bombs detonate; soldiers hemorrhage after being shot). Language is often coarse, including multiple uses of "f--k" and "s--t."
  • Families can talk about the premise of the movie: How is it possible that a decision as important as whether a country should go to war hinges on false information? What happens afterward when the truth eventually is revealed? How does it affect the citizens of that country?
  • What is the film saying about war? About the men and women who are sent to war zones? Is it believable that someone like Miller would go rogue? How did all the violence affect you?
  • Does this movie make you reflect on real-life events that inspired it? Your thoughts?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Most people aren’t trustworthy, even the highest levels of government, the film posits. But a questioning few are willing to put themselves on the line to uncover the deception. The decisions that went into going to war in Iraq are firmly questioned.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: Very few exhibit the courage that Miller does, which, though admirable in its reach for the truth, is woefully unrealistic and arrogant as a premise.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Plenty of carnage from battles involving knives, machine guns, and explosions. We see corpses sitting in pools of blood. Soldiers manhandle prisoners.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false4 Language: Everything from “s--t” to “sonofabitch” to “f--k.” Also, several uses of "Jesus," "Goddamn," and "Christ" as exclamations.
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: Media outlets like CNN and the Wall Street Journal are name-checked.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

2.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

Going rogue. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Jen Yamato

3.0

Jen Yamato Profile See Jen Yamato's Profile

"G.I. Bourne: Where Are the WMDs?" Read full review See Dave Jen Yamato's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Green Zone Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Watch All Videos

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook