Body Of Lies
October 27th 2008 12:45
I LOVE a good espionage movie, and I think Ridley Scott’s Body Of Lies may be the best one Hollywood’s dished up since 2001’s Spy Game, which was actually directed by Ridley’s brother, Tony Scott.
Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a street-smart US intelligence officer on the job in the Middle East. There’s been a spate of suicide bombings across Europe and he’s on the trail of Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul), an Islamic extremist who may be behind it all.
Although he speaks Arabic and blends in as much as a white American can in places like Iraq and Jordan, Ferris’s work is often hampered by Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), his CIA handler back in Washington who makes life-and-death decisions over the phone while he watches his daughter play soccer and does the family shopping. Hoffman claims he can see the ‘big picture’, but that’s of little comfort to Ferris, who constantly sees the suffering of the people on the ground.
The acting is excellent all round. DiCaprio and Crowe show why they’re two of the most in-demand male leads in the business, and they’re backed up brilliantly by Golshifteh Farahani as Ferris’s love interest and Mark Strong as the impeccably stylish head of Jordanian Intelligence.
Body Of Lies gives as good an account of the secretive War On Terror as you can expect from a fictional action thriller. It’s full of intrigue and suspense, and you can tell it’s been put together by dedicated people.
Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a street-smart US intelligence officer on the job in the Middle East. There’s been a spate of suicide bombings across Europe and he’s on the trail of Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul), an Islamic extremist who may be behind it all.
Although he speaks Arabic and blends in as much as a white American can in places like Iraq and Jordan, Ferris’s work is often hampered by Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), his CIA handler back in Washington who makes life-and-death decisions over the phone while he watches his daughter play soccer and does the family shopping. Hoffman claims he can see the ‘big picture’, but that’s of little comfort to Ferris, who constantly sees the suffering of the people on the ground.
The acting is excellent all round. DiCaprio and Crowe show why they’re two of the most in-demand male leads in the business, and they’re backed up brilliantly by Golshifteh Farahani as Ferris’s love interest and Mark Strong as the impeccably stylish head of Jordanian Intelligence.
Body Of Lies gives as good an account of the secretive War On Terror as you can expect from a fictional action thriller. It’s full of intrigue and suspense, and you can tell it’s been put together by dedicated people.
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