Review: Green Zone (15)***

Thus the mindset of Green Zone is established. From the outset, Damon, playing Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, is propelled along a wild goose chase of epic proportions. He says so. But no one is listening, save for a CIA spook (Brendan Gleeson) who appears to be a cuckoo in a nest of sharp-suited government vipers.

Both a punchy war drama and a hotbed of political infighting and intrigue, this latest exploration of conflict from Paul Greengrass paints a bleak portrait of the vicious internecine warfare conducted between government spies.

It does not flinch from depicting scenes of Iraqis being tortured and interrogated by American personnel. Nor does it avoid scenes of sub-farcical errors, such as the late arrival of Miller and his men at a clandestine meeting of Iraqi top brass where they miss their man by minutes.

Greengrass builds on the infamy of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay for his backdrop. In this house of cards both military and Press have been sold a dud. Miller finds himself in an increasingly nasty game of cat and mouse between a basilisk-eyed suit (Greg Kinnear, shifty and deadly) who has to keep a secret – that there are no WMDs – and Brown (Gleeson) who knows the truth and wants to blow the lid.

The kernel of this pedal-to-the-metal thriller is the accusation, brought to vivid, almost plausible life that the US wanted to hear a lie in order to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein. As a political statement, it's about as raw as Greengrass has got, eclipsing even his own Bloody Sunday as a damning indictment of absolutism.

Using actors like Damon, alongside reliable tough nuts such as Jason Isaacs, means Green Zone is elevated well above any of the run-of-the-mill actioners of recent vintage.

Damon, in particular, brings honour and truth to his decent career soldier, a hopelessly naive man appalled by his administration's willingness to employ deceit as its own WMD.

Anyone familiar with Greengrass's fast-moving, hand-held camera style will not be disappointed with the energy levels he creates here. Just don't believe a word of it.