 A Smart Spy Thriller That Is Utterly Current |
| Review Date: October 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: David Keymer, Modesto CA |
| Munich, then Syriana, and now Body of Lies. All smart, smart, smart spy thrillers, and all current. David Ignatius is a columnist for the Washington Post on international affairs. On the side, he is one of the best writers of spy fiction writing currently: he is, on a par with Robert Littell and Charles McCarry and, at most, a half step behind John Le Carre. Lies unfolds in the modern Middle East, Iraq and then Jordan, with sidesteps to Turkey and Dubai. (In the first scene in Dubai, one of our favorite buildings in Dubai was in the background, the Hotel Dusit.) Di Caprio plays a young CIA field agent. Crowe is his aging fat-around-the-middle handler and superior back in Washington, a man who cannot stop double-dealing, even with his own agents. Their objective is to entrap the head of an effective and up till then subterranean terrorist agency. If they cut off the head of the movement, they hope, the body will die. The movie plays out in a cascade of episodes, many of them grisly and all effective. Shot alternately in closeup (handheld cameras) and long shot (the view from overhead spy planes), they show the viewer how difficult it is to operate in an alien terrain where the enemies don't play by the rules. (The terrorists don't use cell phones or email so there's nothing to track.) In desperation, Di Caprio sets up a sting operation: he creates a false backtrail that insinuates that there is a second jihadist group out there drawing attention away from the master terrorist that Di Caprio and Crowe seek to capture. Di Caprio's sting leads to the death of an innocent and to Di Caprio's capture and torture - it's rough stuff, all of it, but it has the smell of truth to it. The movie is effectively filmed and efficiently plotted; the acting is always adequate and often much more than that. Russell Crowe is excellent (what a good actor he is!), Di Caprio is adequate to good, and Mark Strong as Hami, the head of Jordanian counter-intelligence, is absolutely superb. Body is really good. |
Ridley Scott tackles politics in the way only Ridley Scott can
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| Review Date: October 10, 2008 |
| Reviewer: T. Noever, Brisbane, Australia |
Films involving 'current events'--particularly those relating to anything happening in the Middle East and Terrorism--tend to be soaked in the writers', producers' and director's politics, which usually end up very much in-your-face and spoil the film, because you suddenly lose the story and drown in the preaching and proselytizing.
Ridley Scott, who has already addressed the West-East/Christianity-Islam issue in a previous film, 'Kingdom of Heaven', this time bit the bullet (instead of the sword) and continued KoH's story about 1000 years later. 'Body of Lies' is very much a Ridley Scott movie and this translates into the film's politics as well. Thing is, you can't leave politics out of a political movie; and so what do you do?
Well, here's a newsflash for the poli-preachers on all sides: it's possible to have it all, and just watch Ridley Scott do it. Just like KoH, it's all about even-handedness and realizing that (1) every side in a conflict has a point of view, which, to itself, is perfectly valid; and (2) every side has people you'd probably like and some you really wouldn't, (3) the way to peace lies with understanding (1) and (2); and not with having just one point of view, no matter how righteous it may appear. Both, Islamophobes and Islamophiles--or those on the extremes of any aspect of the political spectrum--will probably find ample elements to dislike about this film. Others of a more moderate and even-handed disposition will find much to like and appreciate.
All of this, rather profound, stuff is wrapped up in a gritty Ridley Scott production and direction, that keeps your full attention for its full 2+ hours. Leonardo DiCaprio has really grown up and cast off his annoying persona, which was so prominent in just about all his movies; until 'Blood Diamond' came along. Russell Crowe is basically a secondary character, eclipsed almost completely by DiCaprio and Mark Strong. The latter has come a long way since I first saw him in the BBC production of Jane Austen's 'Emma'. The gentle and understated romance element provided by Golshifteh Farahani as 'Aisha' provided a nice contrast to the testosterone-soaked male world in which this drama plays out.
The movie confirms what I've known for a long time: Ridley Scott apparently can do no wrong. |
BODY OF LIES (BLU RAY)
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| Review Date: March 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Joseph Chow, Singapore |
A VERY GOOD MOVIE. PICTURE QUALITY IS SHARP N AUDIO IN DOLBY
TRUE HD IS GOOD. 128 MINUTES NEVER A DULL MOMENT.
WORTH ADDING TO MY BLU RAY COLLECTION.
DON'T WAIT ORDER IT NOW.
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blu ray
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| Review Date: March 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: gpgreek, las vegas, nevada United States |
Hey buy this in blu ray it is fantastic
great arial shots and when the bombs go off you can just about feel it
Crowe and DiCaprio make a fine team .
it shows love for country and love for a girl. Girl is the winner
Lots of action and movie is relevant for today |
Great movie but the Blu Ray no longer has the digital copy!
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| Review Date: April 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jason Pumphrey, Falls Church, Virginia United States |
| Be careful,the Blu Ray no longer comes with the Digital Copy like it shows on the picture,mine had just the Blu Ray Disc(dont worry it has all the extras!),just no Digital Copy disc.I'm sure there is still some of the 2 disc Speacial Editions out there,after the first run it seems that the Digital Copy is no longer included. Great Ridley Scott movie though,I'm not a huge fan of Digital Copies but I'm just warning people out there who do like em'! No more slipcover either,guess Warner saved a lot of $ by doing this! I'm sure this will be happening more and more w/ Blu Ray releases in the future! |
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