Political thrillers are not really my bag to be honest - I watch them but do I enjoy them? Not really. So it needs to be a very special type of movie for me to give it the thumbs up. Body of Lies is not that special.
DiCaprio is a good actor - you have to give him that - but I am not so sure about all his film choices. 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. 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. 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.
Crowe plays a soccer dad, CIA HQ man calling the shots from his earpiece, computers and satellite imagery. Neither Crowe nor DiCaprio do a bad job per se - but their very limited shared screen time bogs the film down. 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. 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.
There is one good thing to come out of this though - Mark Strong's performance as Hani Salaam is impressive. 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. I've never heard of this guy before, but he looks like one to watch. 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. 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. Even DiCaprio himself looked like a guy playing the scene against his better judgement. In the end Body of Lies is a messy affair that turns into an uninteresting, muddled, tedious couple of hours. It's always a bad sign when you just want the film to end - and the sooner the better. The ending by the way is pure Hollywood - contrived and a nick-of-time rescue thrown in for good measure.
Scott too has to take a lot of the blame here - after all he is both producer and director. His flashy style gets a little tiresome after a while and even though he is a world away from his brother Tony's quick-cut editing, he seems to be getting closer to him rather than further away. Although the production values are spot on, the locales suitably impressive and authentic - the formula for these type of movies lends itself to global manipulation of governments and also grandiose, complex plots thus dragging the enjoyment factor way down.
Body of Lies is a quickly forgettable film. 5/10.
DiCaprio is a good actor - you have to give him that - but I am not so sure about all his film choices. 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. 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. 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.
Crowe plays a soccer dad, CIA HQ man calling the shots from his earpiece, computers and satellite imagery. Neither Crowe nor DiCaprio do a bad job per se - but their very limited shared screen time bogs the film down. 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. 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.
There is one good thing to come out of this though - Mark Strong's performance as Hani Salaam is impressive. 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. I've never heard of this guy before, but he looks like one to watch. 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. 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. Even DiCaprio himself looked like a guy playing the scene against his better judgement. In the end Body of Lies is a messy affair that turns into an uninteresting, muddled, tedious couple of hours. It's always a bad sign when you just want the film to end - and the sooner the better. The ending by the way is pure Hollywood - contrived and a nick-of-time rescue thrown in for good measure.
Scott too has to take a lot of the blame here - after all he is both producer and director. His flashy style gets a little tiresome after a while and even though he is a world away from his brother Tony's quick-cut editing, he seems to be getting closer to him rather than further away. Although the production values are spot on, the locales suitably impressive and authentic - the formula for these type of movies lends itself to global manipulation of governments and also grandiose, complex plots thus dragging the enjoyment factor way down.
Body of Lies is a quickly forgettable film. 5/10.