Surprisingly, Director Ridley Scott’s (“American Gangster,” “Black Hawk Down”) recent action feature “Body of Lies” fails to thrill. The novel-based movie which boasts Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, is about a CIA operative who follows a lead to find a major terrorist leader. Though it gives a refreshing cinematic perspective on the current “War on Terrorism,” accusing the United States government of being manipulative, deceiving, and corrupt to allies and agents, the movie itself lacks a certain ebb and flow.
Despite giving a realistic environment of threat and terror within the quotidian ambiance of Iraq’s culture and livelihood, emotional depth and character dimensions were severely lacking. The constant location changes, the one-note dispensable characters, and the aerial zoom-ins from satellite sacrifice audience commitment to the characters as well.
The overabundance of plot-twists seemed haphazardly thrown together and superfluous ““ not to mention confusing. First with the initial mission to find the al-Qaeda leader and then create a distraction for the terrorists, the movie suffocates in questioning America’s tactics and its position in Iraq. The underlying message is that the U.S. screws everyone over. Both controversial and altogether unpatriotic, “Body of Lies” dares to bring up issues of government intervention and human rights in the time of war. The violent shootings and a few cringe-worthy torture scenes shed light on the brutality of war, but should best be avoided by the faint of heart.
In terms of acting, DiCaprio gave a laudable performance as U.S. Intelligence’s top spy Roger Ferris. DiCaprio worked the shoddy low-level of dialogue, but not enough to save the movie. Sent on a covert mission and later sacrificed to a major terrorist leader due to his bluetooth-guiding superior, Ed Hoffman (Crowe), Roger Ferris is the obedient agent who has been in the system for too long. Plans to ally with the Jordanian government go awry and characters are unnecessarily introduced only to be unwarrantedly shot moments after.
Crowe’s Hoffman, an overly pretentious power-hungry CIA vet with a Pottery Barn life to match his Southern accent, serves to direct Ferris through shady governmental scheming solidifying the cynical mantra “trust no one.” This theme repeats to the point of being played out, scenes became indistinguishable and reveals, uninspiring.
The few rays of light came from relationships and Mark Strong’s character’s quirks. The overlooked British actor Mark Strong plays Hani, head of Jordanian Intelligence and political ally to the CIA. Strong puts on a believable Middle-Eastern accent and charms the audience with his impeccable business-fashion sense and use of calling DiCaprio “my dear,” giving personality to an otherwise bland movie. The entertainment aspect came from Strong and DiCaprio (who sports a full Arabic get-up and beard at the beginning), as well as the budding relationship between DiCaprio’s character and Muslim nurse Aisha, which revealed an emotional dimension to Ferris and served as a cute distraction from dangers at hand.
Overall, “Body of Lies” was an interesting story on terrorism, but fell short of being interesting to the point of farfetchedness with the US monitoring Iraq via satellite, controlled by one pajama-clothed man from his house. Perhaps it’s best to keep this one a novel.
E-mail Wong at kwong@media.ucla.edu.