Body Of Lies

It's the way this thing is show that makes it very good for me. That and Mark Strong being incredible. This was the first role i took notice of him.

Leo should have died on camera. That would have made this a great film. As it stands, is good.

Well, these points are relevant because this shit has been happening for decades and shows no sign of stopping.

I agree Di Caprio should have died at the end, his rescue was a little too Hollywood. Just like Jason Bateman's fate in the otherwise excellent THE KINGDOM. Certainly didn't ruin either movie though.

Great arsehole performance from Crowe as well.

As I've often posted about on the boards before, this is one of my favorite films of 2008. It's slick, clever, wonderfully acted and full of excitement. Mark Strong does excellent work , and Leo turns in a great performance as a CIA hitman/spy.

I've written before this at length else where on the boards, but I'd be remiss if I didn't put my love out there for this underrated yet top notch modern day near east spy-tacular adventure.

PS The raid scene (about 20 minutes in) is incredibly well shot. I love that sequence

PPS Leo as "Brad Scanlan" is hilarious. "Hiiiii, it's me! Brad Scanlan!" lol.


PPPS I like that Leo lived. It proved the entire point of the film, that he was better off relying on Hani's human intel than waiting for the American eye in the sky to save his skin


EDIT: Sad but true:

The actress who played Leo's love interest was an Iranian and she is now banned from reentering Iran as a result of her participation in the film.

I thought she did a great job

It's fine, which isn't really good enough at all. The movie doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, as it is neither perceptive political thriller nor action movie. DiCaprio is fine, Crowe is fine (their sort of ambiguous relatiosnhip was probably the most interesting thing in the movie), Strong brings the usual intensity, but it's minor work from all involved. Never felt bored, but have no desire to re-watch it either.

I've seen it no less than 10 times, probably. I love how it globe hops (trots?), Leo zipping in and out of various Near East snafus by the skin of his teeth

Caught this on DVD last night. It's the equivalent in film of an airport paperback. You know, an entertaining read, maybe (if you're lucky) one or two interesting points to make, but overall, not too demanding, slick and fast moving (I don't get the complaints about pacing: I thought the film moved really well).

There were several things that made me roll my eyes though, standard Modern Pulp Fiction cliches like:

THE TERMINATOR TERRORISTS! You know, the ones who blow themselves up as casually as if they were ordering a latte. In real life, Terrorists have to work themselves up over the course of hours, with a "support" group standing by to make sure they go through with their self-immolation. Normally this would not bug me, but Ridley Scott is obviously intent on showing us a "real life" thriller, so this element (to me) was distracting.

THE GOOD NATIVE VS THE EEEEVIL USA! Or at least the bumbling dumb ass US. Sure we know the CIA screws up all the time. On the other hand, it's a stretch to portray the Jordanian Intel head as this master spy who seemingly has his finger on every Terror suspect out there. Of course, in a lot of Airport Novels, you have an "ambiguous' character who may or may not help the Hero, but who of course does help the Hero in the end.

THE EVOCATIVE HERO"S NAME! Really, Roger Ferris?! "cause, you know, Ferris is a Wolf, and wolves hunt other animals, and the character int eh book/film hunts Terrorists...I get it!

THE LAST MINUTE SAVE! Ugh,...I agree with the comments above. Ridley Scott could have gone in a different direction and had a movie with a real (and earned) shock ending. He backed off.

Oh and does anyone else cynically think Ferris and his new girlfriend lasted 1 week after the events in the film? Living in a place where really neither one of them is exactly welcome or accepted

Here's a link that may interest those who are interested in this film:

Q&A with David Ignatius, who wrote the novel

Additionally, I'll add that Ignatius wrote, in a Post column several months ago, that Mark Strong nailed the urbane, sophisticated head of Jordanian Intelligence. He wrote this as part of an obituary for the man, who died in retirement this year.

The book is so much better.

I had great expectations for this one, being a huge Ridley Scott nerd and all that. But when I saw it I was quite underwhelmed, remember just thinking that it was alright, but nothing special.

Haven't seen the film since release, hardly remember much from it apart from Mark Strong stealing the show and the torture scene. I think I'll netflix it or something next week.

Might have to check out the book since I really enjoyed the movie. Mark Strong was awesome and I've always liked Ridley Scott's movies.

Do so, its great.