Leading men aren’t enough to carry ‘Body of Lies’

By Sally Kline
Examiner Movie Critic 10/10/08

Leonardo DiCaprio, right, and Russell Crowe star in "Body of Lies." — Warner Bros. WASHINGTON – The endless election. The plunging economy. Two wars. Terrorism.

As the world seems to be going to heck in a handbasket lately, it is challenging to stay engaged with today’s derivative and pessimistic Middle East spy thriller — no matter how realistically detailed, action-oriented, cleverly photographed and proficiently acted it may be.
There’s no doubt that “Body of Lies” boasts a gold standard roster.

With a script by “The Departed’s” William Monahan, taken from the novel by Washington Post foreign affairs specialist David Ignatius, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe as CIA heavyweights after al Qaeda under the direction of the great Ridley Scott. Scott’s credits include such iconic thrillers as “Blade Runner” and “Black Hawk Down” — not to mention his previous collaborations with Crowe, “Gladiator” and “American Gangster.”

But that doesn’t change the fact that, between the news media and previous fact-based war- and terrorism-themed “entertainments” set around the West’s conflicts with the jihadists, it feels as if we’ve already seen this movie. (Or, at least, I have. The box office has been terrible for most of them.)

Like “Rendition,” “Lions For Lambs,” “The Kingdom,” this summer’s “Traitor” with Don Cheadle and recent others, “Body of Lies” yet again condemns the clueless, megalomaniacal and culturally chauvinistic bureaucrats running things back here in Washington. At the same time, these movies lionize the wildly audacious (but ultimately powerless) operatives in the field and exploit civilization’s most potentially apocalyptic imbroglio in order to provide popcorn fodder for multiplex voyeurs with a morbid jones for blazing explosions, rapid-fire gunplay and high body counts.

There’s plenty of all that flash here as elite undercover agent Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) and his boss back in Langley — the smug, fat soccer dad Ed Hoffman (Crowe) — join a tenuous alliance with the Jordanian Secret Service’s chief Hani Salaam (played with a scene-stealing élan by Mark Strong). After snafus in Iraq yield some good intelligence, they set out to trap a cell hiding out in Amman and its bin Laden-esque leader (Alon Aboutboul). Ferris is smarter than almost everyone else, but his Achilles’ heel becomes a pretty local nurse, Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani).

Cynicism and manipulation reign as the region’s usual propensity for quagmire ensues.

It’s a “Body” that writhes with gritty violence. But even two fine leading men in serviceable performances can’t make it seem original.

Quick Info
“Body of Lies”
2 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe
Director: Ridley Scott
Rated R for strong violence including some torture, and for language throughout
Running Time: 128 minutes

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