Green Zone

The reason of the invasion of Iraq has been revealed yet another time.

The 90s war movies often used VietNam War as their topic,
then in year 2000 on, WW2, Holocaust and Ancient war has become another hot topics.

Recently there was this Hurt Locker that won Oscar best film,
now is Green Zone .

It that an Iraq War wave roll-out in the war film genre?

I have never watch a good and real action packed movie since Die Hard 4,
Green Zone is pretty near.

I wont categorize these pop-corn movies as a great film, but I think it is fair enough to say that Green Zone is indeed very exciting.

The action, the explosive scenes, and the music.
It's been a while, really.
The mood and the pace is so quick,
and not much of CGI used.

Ofcourse the visual effects is there,
but frankly the action scenes are so pure, so original, like the classic 90s movie.

The movie has already catch my eyes in the first scene where Matt Damon and his men take down the marksman and then broke in to the empty warehouse which they believed WMD is there.

The cameraworks remind me of the first-person shooter video game 'Counterstrike',
the director from The Bourne sequels has shown his videography skill for handling the balancing of 'shaky' and 'clarity'.

One of the worst mistake in war movies, is that director do not shoot the movie from the audiences' perspective, that's why very often the audiences could not recognize the movie characters in the entire film.

The soldiers, all look like the same, their hair are all bold, their face are all dirty,
how can you expect the audiences to distinguish these characters if they are not the superstars.

At this point, Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down get fucked up the most.
Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Josh Harnett, and Ewan Mcgregor were in the movie, who cares anyway? they were not a superstar yet that time.

I like the movie in fact, in terms of the feeling, it's better than GreenZone definitely,
but when we are talking about mistake, I think Black Hawk Down is a mess.

By far, Hurt Locker and Green Zone the both war films that were introduced worldwide lately had step away from this shadow.

The characters, are all introduced with crystal clear of clarity.
That allow the audiences to follow the story easier.

Well, story wise,

Michael Moore labelled it as the most HONEST movie about Iraq War, and he think it is stupid to label Green Zone as an action movie.

But I think an honest movie doesnt mean that it would become influential,
an influential movie is a movie that strike people emotion and makes them think deeply, even after they finish the movie.

and at this point,

I think Passion of The Christ is an awesome movie to hit people emotion,
that's why seldom people praise the movie as an honest biblical referenced movie,
but most people were instead shocked and amazed by those cruel scenes, it was so real, and the music add the feeling then.

Which is why, if you asked me,
ofcourse I will tell you Green Zone is an action movie, in fact it is a popcorn movie, atleast the intention it is,
it doesnt surprise me in terms of story,

I mean, Michael Moore has told us this conspiracy before,
whether you believe it or not,
I dont think it would become a sensational story anymore.

We all know what is the reason America is there.
It's clear.

But one thing I wasnt so sure, which is the scenes where Matt Damon pointed the gun at Al-Rawi, and then Freddie appeared to take Al-Rawi down, saying it is not Matt Damon's choice.

Ahem, is that a true incident?

Im not sure.
But if it isnt, well...

How could you say the movie is honest?
The egoism of Big America can be detected in that scene in fact.

Matt Damon could have kill Al-Rawi to the death,
but it was Freddie who did his job in the end.

Does it hint us that the American can run away from this responsible since it was the Iraqi who pull the triger?

The movie can't be ended by watching Matt Damon kill Al-Rawi, it can't be.
But Al-Rawi has to die, he has to.

Okie, whatsoever, that's just a point I would like to raise,
perhaps it really happened.

Let's talk about acting,
Matt Damon is Matt Damon
typical, same old Matt Damon,
solid Hollywood actor, but nothing to shout, he just can't shine.

But the actor who played Freddie is awesome,
he is Khalid Abdalla, the same actor who played the adult Amir in Kite Runner.

His love to the nation, his desperation, and his frustration when he get insulted,
it's all shown on his facial expression, and I dont even need to mention the scene where it was revealed that he has lost his leg.

I cant believe that many audiences in the cinema actualy laugh at him when he keep on jumping on the ground by a single leg.

I mean, THAT SCENE is the best scene through out the whole movie, very impressive, very powerful.


Freddie has just spoken out the essence of what the movie is all about ,
what the Iraqi today would like to slap and spit on the American face.


And the way he ask Matt Damon, 'why are you doing this to me?' , 'why are you chasing me?', 'what do you want from me?'......many many more.....
again.....I used the word FRUSTRATION....


Khalid Abdalla shown this feeling at its best.
His English with the Arab slang, perfect!!!


and I tell you what, without that scene,
Green Zone is just a dead movie with nothing left for us to think.


Laugh? how naive the audiences are...
The more they laugh, the more I found Khalid Abdalla is awesome.


That scene, is suppose the most sadistic scene of the whole movie.

The Book of Eli

Some will kill to have it,
he will kill to protect it.

Same mistake like Legion,
this movie doesnt inject the plot deep enough in order to attract the viewers.

What a waste really, what a waste.
Book of Eli is not just another Post-Apocalyptic movie,

the message of the movie is there, it makes people think, but only for those who have the idea what end of civilization and armageddon are all about.

Okay, make it simple.

For those who believe in monotheism,
armageddon is about once last final battle between God and Satan.

For those who believe in multiple-gods,
it's about the judgement days.

For those who do not believe in any form of god,
it's about the extinct of human race.

You can list many movies about doomsday or armageddon,
but I tell you what,
most of the movie's ending shows that human live and mankind survive.

This has lead us to another sub-genre of the movie,
the post-apocalyptic story like I Am Legend or 28Days later.

A vacant city,
an empty street,
one man walking

That's post-apocalyptic.
Most of the movies play their story before and after the timeline of this event.

As most of these movies are made by Hollywood,
the filmmakers already assume that the viewers who watch these movies have the basic knowledge about armageddon,
and they shoot it from the Christianity angle always.

They dont tell much really,
no explanation, this and that.

It's not necessary.

After all, people are looking for the disaster scenes in armageddon movie,
~huge impact~

simply amaze to see Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty falls and drown.
and then people talk about how much they learned about ~love~ from the movie.

How naive?

Go back to the movie Book of Eli,
my comment to this movie is short and simple actually.

The story is nice but not powerful enough,
the movie is boring but the acting is good.

As I said, this is not just another post-apocalyptic movie,
this man, Denzel Washington a.k.a. Eli has a mission to complete.

Eli would kill and survive for the sake of Bible,
others live for the sake of extending their life.

Eli dont need a partner,
others are seeking for the survivors.

That's the different.

The interesting thing to discuss is the role of Bible in the movie,
it's being portrayed as a powerful food for Denzel Washington to survive,
it's also being portrayed as a disastrous weapon for Gary Oldman to rule the world.

Does it hint us that the American is using this weapon nowadays?

When the naive civilian are fighting for the food and fresh water,
Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman realized the power of Bible.

But it's ironic to reveal that Gary Oldman had read thousands of books which include DaVinci's Code,
but Denzel Washington only have to read one book~the Bible.

Obviously, this idea is showing the supremacy and sufficiency of Bible alone.
It doesnt really matter how many books you have read,
because the function of Bible is incomparable.

And if you realized,
the story did tell us another important message.
which is the activeness of God.

Some people think it is their own choice whether or not to believe in God,
and it is their choice whether or not to read the Bible.

Some might challenge and say,
'I refuse to believe in God, so what can You do about that?'

but they had forgotten the activeness of God.
in fact it is up to God to decide whether or not He want to show His mercy to save us.

He is the one who take the active role,
we are the one who take the passive role.

He is the one who give us chance to listen gospel,
but we are the one who have the freedom to believe in Him, or not.

Can you see that?

That's why,
if we do not doubt the activeness of God,
one should realize a fact.

When he/she refuse to listen gospel and thought they are controlling the game,
God on the other hand is the one who refuse to give them chance to listen gospel.

Ofcourse, ego people often cannot accept this hard fact,
they always think that they are in control,
no other people, not even God can affect their decision.

That's what happen to Gary Oldman in the end,
he get the Bible but it is written in Braille,
he couldnt read it eventhou he can touch it with his own hands and see it with his own eyes.

Same thing happen to us today, some naive people thought reading Bible only require knowledge, and their intention is bad.

But a child can probably understand The Bible more than a PHD do,

a PHD might have read it but he might not understand it.

just like Eli who only read one book can understand Bible more than Gary Oldman do, who have read thousands of books.

PRIOR element is

~whether or not God allow you to understand it~

You see,
it is not you to decide.

Okay, I've talk about the message of the movie,
but personally I think the movie doesnt inject this message into a certain depth.

Which is why,
people might get lost in the movie,
or dun even care to find the meaning of the movie.

Overall, it is boring.
But I admit, some(not all) of the brutal scenes are well-done.

When we are talking about acting, Denzel Washington maintain the quality as he always did,
no surprise frankly.

Gary Oldman is like an elder version of Johnny Depp,
you simply cant recognize him,
another nice move to hide yourself after you cheat The Joker once , Lieutenant James Gordon!!!