Review: Body of Lies

Body of Lies

OPENING: 10/10/2008

STUDIO: Warner Bros.

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
Trust no one. Deceive everyone.

Opening Statement
A government satellite looms above the earth ominously, slowly zooming in via fast-cutting and swooshing noises. As we zoom closer and closer to our earthbound destination, a portentous percussion score informs us that we have entered the realm of the international thriller. It is a world of espionage, lies, spies, bureaucracy, and cover-ups. This sounds very much like the tongue-in-cheek bookends to the new Coen Brothers film, Burn After Reading. That film was, among other things, a very funny and sharp satire of paranoid thrillers. Sadly, what we’re about to witness this time is precisely the sort of movie that the Coens so mercilessly lampooned with Burn After Reading, and I’m afraid that it doesn’t offer a whole lot to redeem the recently ridiculed genre.

Facts of the Case
The film is called Body of Lies, and it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Roger Ferris, a sort of super-secret CIA agent who is making a valiant attempt to win the war on terrorism all by himself. He works for the U.S. Government, but he receives minimal backup and support. Despite this, it seems that almost everything that means anything is placed on Roger’s shoulders, and he bears the burden reasonably well. Roger’s direct superior is the cheerfully antagonistic Hoffman (Russell Crowe), who calmly calls the shots over the telephone while Roger does all the grunt work.

Roger’s responsibilities are so diverse that I am hard-pressed to tell you exactly what all of his objectives are beyond “thwarting terrorism”. However, there is one plan that comes into focus in the middle of all the chaos. Roger schemes to create a “fake terrorist organization,” and blow up an expendable portion of a U.S. Embassy in Turkey. Roger thinks that this move will smoke out the Bin Laden-inspired terrorist he is seeking. You may be wondering the same thing I was at the time: “How, exactly?” Well, Roger reckons that such a plan would make the real terrorists totally jealous, and that they would attempt to contact this new group (actually Roger) in an attempt to either crush them or join forces with them.

The Evidence
The plot sounds kind of silly on paper, but for a large portion of the film, it doesn’t feel that way. Director Ridley Scott is a talented guy, and the facade he provides Body of Lies is almost convincing enough to cover up the fact that the emperor is not wearing any clothes. His locations are immensely convincing and realistic; the attention to detail is quite impressive. The dialogue also goes a long way towards selling things. These are literate characters who sound like they know precisely what they’re talking about. However, these scenes reflected another element that Burn After Reading pointed out: in this sort of film, characters are frequently saying things that seem reasonable on the surface… but the more you actually think about what they are saying, the more you realize just how absurd it all is.

Setting aside the fact that the film is a lot less credible than it wants us to think it is, the movie is also weakened by a tendency to lean towards action movie conventions. There is a moment towards the end of a film that mirrors a similar scene in The Kingdom, in which a inescapably grisly and painful scene is averted thanks to the sort of last-second heroics that seem to only happen in the movies. The weight of Scott’s statements about the corrupt way in which we conduct ourselves in modern warfare is diluted by his aversion to letting his film enter the real world on a more significant level. It’s just another sugar-coated Hollywood ending. Actually, as gritty as this thing tries to be before succumbing to convention, it’s more like a mud-coated sugar cube.

I mentioned in my review of Appaloosa that it can be difficult for actors to make goodness compelling. Characters who are evil or have some level of moral ambiguity often tend to be more interesting by default. Sadly, Body of Lies is unable to overcome that hurdle. DiCaprio is the actor who puts the most effort into his performance here. He’s trying really hard, and he has all the challenging scenes. Despite the actor’s best efforts, the character is just really dull. DiCaprio is capable of carrying a film, but Roger is not. Meanwhile, Russell Crowe turns in one of the lazier performances of his impressive career, doing little more than sporting an easy-going southern accent and looking over his glasses on a regular basis. Despite this, Crowe makes the film considerably more engaging every time he appears, just because his character is naturally quite interesting. Relatively little-known actor Mark Strong ends up stealing the film as a Jordanian intelligence boss, simply because he offers a strong performance of an interesting character.

Closing Statement
If you see the film, you will probably find more pleasure in individual parts than in the final completed product. There is a love story that is honestly little more than padding, but it is handled so nicely that I liked it better than much of the main plot. The sense of detail and atmosphere is effective. Mark Strong gives us a character worth remembering. Some of the action scenes are pretty exciting on a purely fundamental level. I’m running out of nice things to say. Sadly, after a reasonably stellar outing with American Gangster, Ridley Scott has slipped back into mediocrity with his latest film. Considering the talent involved, this one is a big disappointment.

The Verdict

5/10

• “”>