The Guard (2011)

The Guard

Sometimes an opening scene of a movie manages to paint a clear picture of what a movie is about in just seconds. The Guard is an example of a film which manages to do so in an exquisite way (small spoiler coming up). A car with a couple of young men who are speeding, crashes at the exact spot where sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is already waiting in his police car. He frisks one of the unconscious (or dead) men who has been thrown out of the car, finds some drugs, throws half of them away and takes an XTC-pill that’s part of the package. It’s immediately obvious that this is not the most normal cop and that The Guard is a very dark enjoyable comedy. Continue reading

Green Zone (2010)

With the Bourne trilogy Matt Damon has proved (together with director Paul Greengrass) that he is a versatile actor that is also excellent in action movies. Greengrass and Damon teamed up again to make Green Zone. They’ve chosen Iraq, shortly after the invasion by the US, as backdrop for their story. Is Green Zone “Jason Bourne in the Middle East” or does the movie manage to create its own identity?