Take an A-list celebrity, have him gain 50 pounds and dye his hair to make him look older and what do you have? Syriana? No, that was three years ago; this time it's Body of Lies.
Director Ridley Scott (American Gangster) has dished out yet another film about the culture clash between the western world and the Middle East, terrorism and the failures of U.S. intelligence.
Though the film has moments of intrigue, it falls short of being anything other than mediocre.
The film centers on Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond), a CIA agent trying to bring down a terrorist cell in Jordan. Back in the United States, Ferris' boss Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe, American Gangster) is eating cereal and taking his kids to soccer games while he directs national security for the U.S.
The trailer for Body of Lies would lead one to believe it is an action movie. However, unless a film with one hour and 45 minutes of people talking on Bluetooth headsets and 20 minutes of action falls into the action genre, the term is deceptive in this case.
The acting throughout only proves that the film's stars are overrated as actors. They seem to think that a bit of hair dye and a phony southern drawl (which is in no way pertinent to the film) should get them Oscar nominations.
It's pathetic that the actors really seem to have taken this film seriously and believed that it would be regarded as something powerful and poignant.
Crowe's performance in the film is mundane to say the least. He really does nothing other than fulfill his domestic duties back in the U.S. as DiCaprio runs around with the head of Jordanian Intelligence (Mark Strong, Babylon A.D.).
DiCaprio offers a pitiful attempt to make audiences believe that he's anyone other than Leonardo DiCaprio with a prepubescent-looking beard. It is quite honestly painful to watch him attempt to play a tough guy again. Someone needs to start casting him more appropriately.
As for Crowe, it's no stretch to see him play an out-of-shape middle-aged man.
Body of Lies is not a total waste of time though. There is a sequence where intelligence pinpoints targets via satellite, which is an interesting use of technology to say the least.
However, one could save two hours of their life and see more action playing Call of Duty 4, which is basically what the movies looks like.
Though Body of Lies certainly isn't the worst film of the year, its lackluster acting and screenplay isn't worthy of a ticket purchase.
