Just recently a couple of trailers appeared online for two highly-anticipated films starring Matt Damon: Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus. They are very different types of movies – Green Zone being like Bourne set during the Iraq War and Invictus looking like one of those biopics that is clearly “Oscar-ish.” Check out both of the trailers below.
Green Zone reunites the Bourne director Paul Greengrass and star, Matt Damon, and is a war-drama/thriller about about a pair of CIA agents on the trail of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We reported back in the summer of this year that Green Zone had been moved from a late 2009 release to March 12th, 2010, leading to some confusion over that why, as the film seems like prime material for the Oscars.
However, as you’ll see in the trailer below – much as was the case with Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies last year – it looks like more of a straight-up action film rather than a dramatic, “weighted” Oscar contender. Take a look and judge for yourself:
So Green Zone might not be the type of film I had in mind when I first got wind of it getting made, but damn does it look good. Like I mentioned, the situation reminds me of Body of Lies – and is it just me or does the trailer for Green Zone give off the same kind of vibe? Anyway, I can’t wait for Damon and Greengrass’ first collaboration outside of the Bourne franchise. They certainly have a high standard to live up to, but then again, is it really fair to compare this with Bourne?
Along with Damon, Green Zone co-stars Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter), Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone). It’s written by prolific screenwriter Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, Man on Fire, L.A. Confidential), based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
Green Zone is now set to be released on March 12th, 2010.
Perhaps the more anticipated of the two (at least at this point in time) is Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort, entitled Invictus (which is Latin for “unconquered,” FYI). It stars the great Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela (a perfect casting choice if ever there was one), while Matt Damon plays Francois Pienaar, a Rugby player for South Africa when Mandela campaigned, “to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup event as an opportunity to unite his countrymen.”
Unfortunately, the first Invictus trailer isn’t available to embed so for now you’ll have to head over to Apple.com to view it (we’ll have it for you here ASAP). But I highly recommend you watch it over at Apple as, like the Green Zone trailer above, it looks pretty damn great. If you can get past the jarring accent being put on by Freeman as Mandela, as well as the odd structure of the trailer itself, I think this is a shoe-in for at least a couple of acting Oscars, if not some noms for the film itself.
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Ah, that time of year has rolled once again…
Invictus hits U.S. theaters on December 11th, 2009, and hits UK theaters on February 5th, 2010.
What do you think of the trailers for Green Zone and Invictus? Which one do you think looks better?
Sources: Yahoo (thanks to Cinematical) and Apple
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