Finally an above average political thriller that is effective and surprisingly politically neutral. That's not to say it won't irk those on the far reaches of either aisle in addition to the always irritable Iranian government. But, Body of Lies is a plot driven espionage thriller that demonstrates the basics of what Western intelligence has done right and wrong in the post 9/11 era without being preachy or shoving too much at the audience.
The movie follows Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio), an operative trying to gather intel on Islamic terrorist cells to get to the head: Al- Saleem. He works closely with local contacts wherever he goes, only to find that his boss, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) finds them useful but disposable. After losing such a friend in Iraq, Ferris travels to Jordan to head up the U.S. Intelligence operations there. In Jordan he befriends Hani (Mark Strong), the head of Jordanian Intelligence, who places more value on patience and trust than speed and technology.
Anyone who read the title of the movie can guess the basics of what happens next: Ferris gets caught in a web of lies, some created by him, some by his boss, and he struggles to do the right thing and break free from all he has constructed. The lies are actually relatively simple and easy to keep track of. There isn't betrayal upon betrayal which so many movies get caught up in these days, but the pacing does suffer due to a plot that forces itself to be intricate when it would be better served by simplicity.
There is a point about halfway through the movie where Ferris comes up with the idea to construct a fake terrorist cell to challenge the cell they are going after. The idea isn't all that bad, but it basically restarts the plot instead of building it. The pacing of Body of Lies is suspect with plenty of these moments. Ferris doesn't seem to learn much from the err of his ways until the very end, so the characters, while compelling, are also stagnant for most of the movie.
Still, the performances are excellent if not extraordinary. DiCaprio has established himself as the best young actor out there for quite sometime now. His command of different voices, different languages (I've never heard a southerner speak Arabic as well as he does in this movie), and different mannerisms make him a consummate professional. Crowe, in my opinion one of the top few actors working today, is underused in what is really a smaller role than what the trailers showed. I guess every Ridley Scott movie just has to have Maximus in it. The two biggest standouts are Mark Strong, who plays the Jordanian Intelligence Head just serious and slick enough to make you wonder what his interests really are, and Golshifteh Farahani, who is the first Iranian born actress to appear in a Hollywood flick since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Incidentally Mrs. Farahani can't return to her native Iran until the court sees the movie and then decides what to do with her passport.
Admittedly, the love interest of Aisha played by Farahani seems a bit forced. Are Ferris' feelings for a woman really the only thing that can humanize him and realize that maybe he hasn't been doing things the right way this whole time? Body of Lies does such a good job of injecting emotion into it's storyline unlike so many recent political thrillers (think Syriana, Munich, The Constant Gardner, etc.), that it is disappointing to see it resort to such means in an attempt to humanize Ferris and give his life some real meaning.
The movie follows Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio), an operative trying to gather intel on Islamic terrorist cells to get to the head: Al- Saleem. He works closely with local contacts wherever he goes, only to find that his boss, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) finds them useful but disposable. After losing such a friend in Iraq, Ferris travels to Jordan to head up the U.S. Intelligence operations there. In Jordan he befriends Hani (Mark Strong), the head of Jordanian Intelligence, who places more value on patience and trust than speed and technology.
Anyone who read the title of the movie can guess the basics of what happens next: Ferris gets caught in a web of lies, some created by him, some by his boss, and he struggles to do the right thing and break free from all he has constructed. The lies are actually relatively simple and easy to keep track of. There isn't betrayal upon betrayal which so many movies get caught up in these days, but the pacing does suffer due to a plot that forces itself to be intricate when it would be better served by simplicity.
There is a point about halfway through the movie where Ferris comes up with the idea to construct a fake terrorist cell to challenge the cell they are going after. The idea isn't all that bad, but it basically restarts the plot instead of building it. The pacing of Body of Lies is suspect with plenty of these moments. Ferris doesn't seem to learn much from the err of his ways until the very end, so the characters, while compelling, are also stagnant for most of the movie.
Still, the performances are excellent if not extraordinary. DiCaprio has established himself as the best young actor out there for quite sometime now. His command of different voices, different languages (I've never heard a southerner speak Arabic as well as he does in this movie), and different mannerisms make him a consummate professional. Crowe, in my opinion one of the top few actors working today, is underused in what is really a smaller role than what the trailers showed. I guess every Ridley Scott movie just has to have Maximus in it. The two biggest standouts are Mark Strong, who plays the Jordanian Intelligence Head just serious and slick enough to make you wonder what his interests really are, and Golshifteh Farahani, who is the first Iranian born actress to appear in a Hollywood flick since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Incidentally Mrs. Farahani can't return to her native Iran until the court sees the movie and then decides what to do with her passport.
Admittedly, the love interest of Aisha played by Farahani seems a bit forced. Are Ferris' feelings for a woman really the only thing that can humanize him and realize that maybe he hasn't been doing things the right way this whole time? Body of Lies does such a good job of injecting emotion into it's storyline unlike so many recent political thrillers (think Syriana, Munich, The Constant Gardner, etc.), that it is disappointing to see it resort to such means in an attempt to humanize Ferris and give his life some real meaning.