In short, I watch their drivel for the same reasons I “listened” to Soviet Red Army commo when I was in the Army - because I want to be aware of what the sneaky little Communist bastards are up to, and because I loathe Communists. i.e., I can't know what they're are all about unless I'm informed, and they can't infect me because I'm immune to their twisted ideology.
I generally watch even the most controversial leftist movies so I that if I must, I can at least make relatively informed commentary about it. My ten buck isn't going to make a difference.
That said, I watched it in the busiest theater in central Bucks County PA, where one can usually expect a a pretty full theater on opening night of almost any “big name" actor's movie (the “Bourne” movies were packed). This “megaplex” theater showed Green Zone in their largest auditorium, and at the 7:20 showing I doubt there were 80 people present.
From a technical perspective, it was a very well rendered production. There was great balance between sweeping scenes of Baghdad and gritty late-night tactical ops in the slums. I felt it was very well produced.
It also did a great job of inducing the essential “intercharacter tensions” (sorry, I don't know the correct term for it, so I made one up) between the antagonist/protagonist and the supporting characters that make a good story engaging.
But, in the real world (if such can even be said of cinema), all of the technical proficiency, great cinematography, and even some pretty decent acting (especially by the Iraqi “3rd character”) simply don't carry this flawed storyline.
It's just damned hard to get a theater full of Americans to believe that the actions of an American Army Officer (OK Warrant Officer) essentially getting a Blackhawk full of SF troopers and their Commander killed is something to applaud. No matter how bad the earlier tension building scenes make them look, they are still fellow Americans. BTW, they were not not “hunting” CWO Miller and his soldiers in order to execute them. They were hunting a particularly bloodthirsty Iraqi General, with a price on his head (the “10 of Clubs”) whom Miller was also trying to find for his own little crusade.
At any rate, Green Zone is unfortunately based on the same old tired leftist meme that America is always wrong, and the flawed premise that “there were no WMD in Iraq”, and tries to establish in the public’s mind (once again) that a bunch of craven Pentagon bureaucrats made the whole thing up just so they could invade Iraq. Gee, where have we heard that before?
If anyone thinks CWO Miller comes off as a hero for his actions (which result in the deaths of several US soldiers and friendly Iraqi nationals), their values are skewed to the extreme left. But that's the audience Damon’s shooting for anyway. Hell, they're probably telling him how “brave” he is right now. In their self-congratulatory little bubble world, he'll probably get an Oscar for Best Impersonation of an American “Patriot”.
Among the comments I heard at the end of the movie were” “what bullshit”, “good God!”, “That sucked” and my personal favorite “Well, I can't unwatch that shit”.
A bad story, even when well executed, is still just a bad story. Green Zone is nothing more than a gold-plated turd.
Those comments are good to hear. You'll have to pass the word along in e-mail or Facebook what you thought of the movie.