What’s the Story?

Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a hotshot CIA operative running shotgun on covert maneuvers in the Middle East. Edward Hoffman (Russell Crowe) is the paunchy, headstrong boss who has his back -- most of the time -- back in Langley, Virginia. Their mission is to stop the terrorists in their tracks and capture their fearsome leader, Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul). But they're foiled repeatedly ... until Ferris hatches a scheme to create a new, fictitious leader vying for prominence with Al-Saleem. It's a bloody plan aimed at trying the guilty, but it ends up sacrificing the innocent. Ferris isn't sure whether his allies -- including Jordanian intelligence -- are truly behind him, or whether his newfound friendship with an Iranian doctor (Golshifteh Farahani) will put everything, including himself, in jeopardy.

Is It Any Good?

The tension begins from the first moment and rarely lets up in Ridley Scott's BODY OF LIES. The quick camera cuts and the rough, gritty terrain add to the pressure. All good to be sure. But couple that with the movie's nearly unrelenting violence (bombs exploding, machine guns firing, bodies bleeding) and you end up with a thriller that flirts dangerously with being overdone (this is not a film for anyone prone to migraines). Although it offers a fascinating (if labyrinthine) look at the intricacies of running covert operations, in the end, it focuses too much on serving up stylized fare when all we really long for is a good, old-fashioned spy movie. Or at least one that illuminates or adds depth to what we already know -- from the news and from other movies that have taken on the subject -- about the war on terror.

But Body of Lies does do one thing perfectly: give viewers a chance to see two fine actors go toe to toe. DiCaprio is intense, but his Titanic-like charms add much-needed levity when he comes a-courting at his beloved physician's home. And Crowe is arrogant but compelling in a role that has him dispensing murderous orders while at his child's soccer game buffet and swinging by school for a drop off.

Have you seen it?

Movie Details

Studio

Warner Bros.

Director

Ridley Scott

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio
Mark Strong
Russell Crowe

Genre

Thriller

Run time

123 minutes

Theatrical release

10/8/2008

DVD release

2/17/2009

MPAA Rating

R

MPAA explanation

strong violence including some torture, and for language throughout.

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