Kit up for battle with these military-style movie must-haves

We follow Matt Damon into the Green Zone with this fighter fashion.

Matt Damon’s no stranger to kicking ass onscreen. He might have shot to stardom in more actorly, dramatic movies like Good Will Hunting and The Talented Mr Ripley, but in recent years he’s hit the gym and built up some bulk, re-emerging as a cool and credible action hero. He showed James Bond how it’s done as Jason Bourne in the Bourne trilogy (would Casino Royale have been half as good without Bourne to show the way?) and is continuing to own the action genre with his latest movie, Green Zone.

This time we’re not talking CIA conspiracies but the Iraq war with Damon playing U.S. Army Warrant Officer Roy Miller, a soldier sent to investigate the presence of WMDs only to suspect a dodgy American plot is afoot (so it IS about a conspiracy). Yup, Miller might have his memory, yet there are definite similarities between him and Bourne and the movies in general.

First up, there’s the director link. Green Zone reunites Damon with Bourne helmer, Paul Greengrass whose trademark hand-held camera work (which made the action sequences in the Bourne movies feel so real), is also back in play. And Miller himself, like the Robert Ludlum antihero, once towed the party line but is now questioning the authorities and going rogue; and if anyone can look cool while doing so it’s Matt Damon.

Not that he’s the only one. Military styles have long since quit the battlefields and worked their way into our closets, the heavy coats great for winter and the lighter jackets spot-on for spring/ summer making it a full-time fashion. It’s a look that almost rises above trends, proving popular regardless of whether they’re wearing it on the runways of Paris or the catwalks of Milan. So Burberry went nuts for it in a recent collection? Great, but it ain’t gonna change a thing.

And so, as we head into the Green Zone this weekend with the movie on cinematic release, we’re reminding ourselves of how cool and wearable the military look is with some classic screen spots. From last year’s sci-fi smash, Terminator Salvation, we’ve nabbed the Oakley SI Assault boots as worn by resistance fighter, John Connor (Christian Bale). The civilian version of the boots worn by U.S. Elite Special Forces soldiers in combat, they’re incredibly comfortable, durable and seriously hard-core.

For something a little more old school, go for the S-Icon leather sheepskin coat from luxury label, Belstaff which keeps Brad Pitt’s Aldo ‘the Apache’ Raines warm while enthusiastically hunting Nazis in Quentin Tarantino’s World War II epic, Inglourious Basterds. Described by the prestige brand as being made from “genuine Antique 10 wax cotton" (everyone’s favourite wax cotton, we’re sure you’ll agree), it’s designed to take on the elements and win – just the kind of fighter spirit we want from our coats!

Complete the look with the Suunto Vector watch as seen on Mark Wahlberg’s retired army sniper, Bob Lee Swagger in action/ thriller, Shooter. Far from the likes of familiar household names like Casio or Swatch, the Finnish company don’t just churn out fashion watches, but ones boasting navigational aids to help you fend for yourself in the wilderness. The Vector, available in a range of colours, is their most legendary watch packing a compass, altimeter, barometer and much more and, capable of enduring the harshest of environments, it’s the ultimate everything-in-one tool for guys searching for something tough to rely on.

And then all you need are the finishing touches, those military staples seen on all army action men – dog tags (flashed in everything from comedy spoof, Tropic Thunder to graphic novel masterpiece, Watchmen) and a camouflage Army-style cap (we love how Jamie Foxx rocks the look in Jarhead). The military look? Done.