Review of Body of Lies (2008) by Kyle S — 07 May 2011

More ambitious than your average post 9/11 film and far from boring, Body of Lies takes a popular terrorist/CIA formula and puts an interesting spin on it. The story is fleshed out and has plot twist and many pints of suspense.

It is engaging and full of information but it's written well enough to be understood. I will say that if you dont pay attention (like I didn't on my first viewing) the story will have you lost fairly quickly, yet it's not too deep to drive away a casual audience.

Ridley Scott does a great job directing as usual and perfromances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Strong are amazing. Russell Crowe plays a very out of character role but he still regains his usual presence.

The plot is not perfect but it certainly works and the specific story about chasing this terrorist around the middle east certainly gets good use out of CGI effects,explosives and an arsenal of cinematic experiances that Ridley Scott has became known for.

Body of Lies is a film that I had to watch twice to fully appreciate but that second viewing is well worth it. At worst you get a popcorn movie that actually carries a plot along with good performances to boot.