Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe star in this CIA thriller from Ridley Scott. DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a former journalist turned covert operative searching for the terrorist responsible for multiple bombings on various civilian targets throughout the world. Russell Crowe on the other hand, plays Ed Hoffman, the micro managing over weight station chief from Langley who keeps tabs on Ferris’ whereabouts from so called drones that float thousands of feet above the earths surface. Hoffman doesn’t give two shits about Ferris, he just wants intelligence and results. I want to start of by saying that this isn’t the disappointment that everyone seems to be labeling it. It’s not Ridley Scott’s best film by far, but it most certainly has it’s entertaining moments.
At the film’s beginning, we witness the capabilities of the terrorists as they carry out the bombings of multiple high populated areas. Ed Hoffman briefs his superiors on these events and says perhaps one of the most frightening statements in the movie. “We are an easy target.” And we are. Russell Crowe has been getting some pretty nasty reviews as to the depth of his character in this movie. If you’ve read the book, which I have, then you would know that there isn’t much to his personality and in that case Crowe did a decent job. He plays Hoffman well in that he’s a selfish manipulative SOB who will see his job through to the end no matter what. However, with William Monahan writing the screenplay you just knew that he would add a certain “mother fucker” to Hoffman and Crowe simply didn’t deliver in that aspect. He wasn’t bad but I’ve seen Crowe in better characters.
We first meet Roger Ferris in Samarra, Iraq where he’d been stationed for quite some time. He and his Asset Skip, are confronted with a person known to have connections with Al Salim, the man responsible for all the devastation. The make contact with him and gather all suitable Intel and leave. After getting seriously wounded in a car Chase that nearly took his life, Ferris is sent to Jordan to act as Station Chief of the middle East region where he is sent to meet the head of the Jordanian Intelligence, Hani Salam. Here, we find out that Ferris can be a cocky sonofabitch if he needs to be and he is probably the smartest person we’ve ever met. The role of Roger Ferris is very similar to another role that Leonardo DiCaprio took on two years ago when he portrayed Danny Archer from Blood Diamond. He hit the nail on the head in that one, but there’s just something missing in him while he plays Roger Ferris.
I have to say that there is one person that seems to over shadow the two stars of this film and that is Mark Strong and his character of Hani Salam. Hani was the suave and smooth talking head of Jordanian intelligence. He steals every scene he’s in, and he’s in some scenes with DiCaprio and Crowe which is saying a lot. I couldn’t believe how charismatic he was in this film. A real pleasant surprise was Mark Strong.
Don’t get me wrong, DiCaprio as Roger Ferris and Russell Crowe as Ed Hoffman are really very good. But it is in the scenes in which DiCaprio and Crowe are in together and really interact that we get our true entertaining value. It must have been so much fun being in the room and watching those two act it out, because I’ll tell you that there are some very comical scenes involving both of them. They curse and swear and call each other “mother fucker” and Ferris even calls Hoffman a “fat ass sonofabitch.” But towards the end of the film, there a couple dramatic scenes that the two are in and we see why Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio are two of the best working actors today.
Overall, like I said Body of Lies wasn’t that bad of a movie. But it was one of my more anticipated movies of 2008 so I can’t really say it wasn’t a disappointment but it isn’t the horrible movie some people are calling it. It has it’s high’s and low’s and it has it’s explosions and shoot-outs and car chases. It has everything you want, but a few things that you don’t. It’s not a whacked movie by any means but it sure as shit ain’t a made on either.
RottenTomatos: 49%
IMDB: 7.7/10
Moviewiseguys: 6.5/10