Body of Lies

All the ingredients are here but this time it's no gourmet delicacy. It’s as though Ridley Scott was resting and not giving it his full concentration like he did recently with the American Gangster. In any case, the actors were excellent, the bearded DiCaprio gets cooler with every movie, Russell Crowe perfectly pulls off a dad/agent who teaches his son to go to the bathroom, the imaginary crown was stolen by Mark Strong whose Hani could easily carry a movie all of his own. The rest is an almost textbook hi-tech spy scenario. Smart enough to impress you, not good enough to drool over with bliss for two hours. 75% (06/02/2009)

Syriana in a more commercial guise. In comparison, Body of Lies is easier to understand, more accessible to the general public, but at the same time no less relevant, it’s pertinent not dumb at all and the acting is no worse. Ridley again proves anew that he’s getting a third wind in his retirement and hasn’t lost any of his talent. (14/12/2008)

Though it has a traditional concept and is a more than decently filmed spy thriller, Body of Lies does not have enough of the exotic atmosphere of Spy Game or the high-tech coolness of Enemy of the State to become a hit. It goes straight to the epicenter of the issue of contemporary Islamic terrorism and does so with perfect action scenes. But even though it keeps switching between different locations and the plot moves forward at a decent pace, I still feel like it’s actually stuck in one place. That is probably because everything apart from spy machinations seems both superfluous and half- baked (the attempt to depict the background of Crowe’s character, or DiCaprio’s relationship with the local girl). And it needs a different kind of ending. (09/01/2009)

Well, that's the way it is. While most people were watching our hockey players advance to the World Championship finals, I was watching Body of Lies. And I really don't believe that the hockey was more exciting! A delicious performance by Mark Strong, the chubby office rat Crowe, a (traditionally) great DiCaprio... They all star in what I think is a perfect film that brought Ridley Scott and his crew of filmmakers to the Middle East for the fourth time. It was fascinating to watch Scott's work with the story - he sticks to one main storyline, then gradually packs in more and more, letting them weave in and out of each other with such ease that the viewer can follow everything without any issues, and it all culminates in a heart attack scene with the hammer in the lead role. Wow. (22/05/2010)

"That is impossible. Because it will mean that you sat in my office and you lied to my face." The clash between the vibrant Arab world and the cold detachment of the systemic West is the most important message of the leftist Scott. Above all the final thought – better to live in a world where evil and therefore its counterpart is clear than in a sterilized system built on hypocrisy. This is nicely illustrated by the final scene, with DiCaprio shopping for oranges in a busy Arab marketplace while Crowe takes the foil off the vacuum-packed cut fruit in an empty airport lounge. Surprisingly, it doesn't jump out of context at all. What's terribly gratifying is the unsaid, which sometimes keeps the conflicts from even hitting fertile ground (a code of honor that DiCaprio is somehow unable to uphold throughout the film), but of course that's not the film's problem, it's the viewer's. The only downside I see is the script, which seemed to me to be perhaps gradating in reverse, and in general the final deus ex machina in the last moment is such a libation to film history... Nevertheless, Scott succeeds again in full. (22/06/2011)