Another Iraq War movie … incoming!
“Body of Lies” doesn’t deal exclusively with the Iraq War, which the film assumes is all but lost. Still, it’s an espionage thriller in which a conflicted CIA agent (Leonardo DiCaprio) bounces around the Middle East alternately apologizing for the U.S. military action and trying to undo the damage it wrought.
Meanwhile, he’s paired up with a fellow agent (Russell Crowe) who spends the entire movie lying to anyone within ear shot.
It’s no wonder you don’t give a fig about any of the characters even when the fuse is lit on the unimaginative final act.
DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative with an unusual command of Middle Eastern tongues – and a bizarre American accent that’s hard to place but easy to giggle over. He’s trying to nail an Al Qaeda biggie responsible for a terrorist wave across Europe, but to do so he must team up with a pair of curious allies.
Fellow CIA agent Ed Hoffman (Crowe, 50 pounds heavier than usual) is calling the shots back in the States, even though he and Roger rarely agree on any course of action. And then there’s a Jordanian intelligence chief (Mark Strong, the film’s true magnetic presence) who offers help so long as Roger plays it straight with him.
But in Hollywood, CIA agents never keep their promises.
“Body of Lies” features some nifty sequences in which we see, via satellite technology, some of the close calls Roger endures. The spy stuff is indeed top notch, but it’s when the drama stays earthbound when the trouble begins.
A negligible romance between Roger and a fetching nurse brings the movie to a dead stop. When we discover the woman is both a love interest and a creaky plot device the film all but collapses under its own melodramatic weight.
“Lies” is the second straight disappointment from Ridley Scott – “American Gangster” similarly fell flat despite a heady cast and gangbuster material. With “Lies,” the script plays off a novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, and you get the sense the writer’s work is felt during the film’s better moments.
“Body of Lies,” for all its warts, shouldn’t be lumped in with other anti-Iraq War dramas. It’s more engaging than most of that genre, and it burrows into global terrorism with a serious sense of purpose. Still, “Lies” just might meet the same fate as those films.
(Photo: Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio butt heads as CIA agents trying to infiltrate terrorist cells in “Body of Lies.”)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually, the book is similarly awful. The girlfriend plot device
is from the book, though she’s an a American activist in Jordan
to help with refugees of Jewish war atrocities against the Arabs.
Though in the book Hoffman is a workaholic who seldom goes
home. The book also turns Ferris into Faris of Arab ancestry at
the end so that we know he’s not like the dirty Anglo Americans.
Totally redeemed! That’s why he’s smart, get it? Book was beyond
disappointing.
Dennis, Thanks for checking in about the book. It does sound awful … and I love the activist character. Imagine the outrage from CAIR if it had been an activist fighting against Middle Eastern terrorists and the damage they cause?
I finished the book last night, all I can say is wow, what an abysmal story. The main character Ferris seems like a complete idiot, making all sorts of dumb decisions and trying ridiculous ploys. I would guess that people actually in the CIA have the same opinion of this book as a forensic expert would have of CSI.
The plot is completely ridiculous, and much of the story just isn’t plausible. There are some errors in the details of Arab culture and dialects, but that’s no big deal. I thought it was supposed to be difficult to get published. How does this stuff get to press?
The movie must be really bad if it’s worse than the book.
Apparently Ridley Scott enjoys working with Russell Crowe; and he likes to make movies that raise international awareness (i’m thinking Blackhawk Down and Kingdom of Heaven)… that’s a good thing i’d say