Scott too has to take a lot of the blame here - after all he is both producer and director. The ending by the way is pure Hollywood - contrived and a nick-of-time rescue thrown in for good measure. It's always a bad sign when you just want the film to end - and the sooner the better. In the end Body of Lies is a messy affair that turns into an uninteresting, muddled, tedious couple of hours. Even DiCaprio himself looked like a guy playing the scene against his better judgement. This - although required as I guess half the audience won't know what the hell is going on - further slows everything down and looks contrived. Overall - the complex nature of the plot means there are a few scenes thrown in here that practically explain to the audience what is going on. I've never heard of this guy before, but he looks like one to watch.
His scenes with DiCaprio are - for me - the highlight of the movie and his dark, polite yet menacing presence throughout the film is testament to his fine acting. There is one good thing to come out of this though - Mark Strong's performance as Hani Salaam is impressive. The plot is hard to follow and I felt myself looking at the movie and watching it for what it was - but not really understanding what the hell was going on? Throw in some Arabic dialogue and hey presto - total confusion. To be honest the whole thing is too complicated, too complex and - a word NO film-maker wants to hear said about his movie - dull.
Neither Crowe nor DiCaprio do a bad job per se - but their very limited shared screen time bogs the film down. There are other complications in his way of course - explosions, double-crosses, car-chases and even love - and the plot permeates through all these items slowing everything down to a grinding halt.Ĭrowe plays a soccer dad, CIA HQ man calling the shots from his earpiece, computers and satellite imagery. He plays a CIA man in the Middle-East and essentially his plot point boils down to him on the trail of a hard to find terrorist bad guy. Of course he ain't gonna get them all right so I need to give him some slack - but this one falls on the wrong side. Body of Lies is not that special.ĭiCaprio is a good actor - you have to give him that - but I am not so sure about all his film choices. So it needs to be a very special type of movie for me to give it the thumbs up. Political thrillers are not really my bag to be honest - I watch them but do I enjoy them? Not really. Reviewed by markymark70 6 / 10 / 10 Too Complicated and dull for my liking
There's quite a lot to take in during the early stages of this movie and there's some well staged action scenes. Overall a well done movie.With fantastic editing and a well-structured story, Body of Lies is a dark, gritty, and complex spy thriller.Leonardo DiCaprio plays a CIA agent undercover in the Middle East, gathering intelligence on an Al-Qaida terrorist network, negotiating and double crossing with both the Jordanian security service and his CIA superior (a very snaky Russell Crowe). There are quite many things to keep track so pay extra attention to the story.
action / drama and thriller moments mixed to a enjoyable movie. CIA tries to take down a terrorist leader. LEONARDO DICAPRIO was brilliant in this movie and he was ably supported by Russell Crowe.Mark Strong was strong(no pun intended) in the few scenes he was featured.The Thing that I like most about this film is its realism.The story was something i felt i have already seen before but quite interesting to follow. Reviewed by Thury-Goodwe 10 / 10 / 10 Decade 2000'S Most Underrated Movie and Among Ridley Scott's Best Feature Films