[MOVIE] Body of Lies

After reading this review, I kind of want to go see this.

If you're like me, you watched the preview for this thinking "OK, it looks pretty cool, but I have NO IDEA what's going on." After rewatching the trailer now that I've seen the movie, I can tell you that any sort of promotional piece on this movie can't even cover a fraction of the plot of this film. Again, without giving away this complicated plot, deception is everywhere and I think the tagline was pretty accurate: TRUST NO ONE. Every ten minutes or so you have a title card explaining yet another location within the Eastern U.S. or the Middle East... make no mistake, it's a BIG movie. It is one intricate and finely crafted thriller courtesy of "Departed" screenwriter William Monohan, and in hands other than his or Scott's, I'm convinced it would have failed miserably.

 

I advise anyone who wants to see this movie to go in as spoiler free as they can. I was glued to the screen for the whole movie, and I think knowing close to nothing about this film made it all the more exciting. Although I'm sure some will complain about some use of "Shaky cam"/Paul Greengrass style camerawork (it isn't much, but there's a bit), the action is tightly shot and had the audience pretty reactive, not to mention there is some torture scenes that still make me cringe just thinking about them.

 

In my opinion, this is really DiCaprio's movie. He owns every second of this film. Every time he's on screen he brings an intensity to the movie that few actors could. Though I'm pretty sure everyone's past stereotyping him for his days as the object of teen girls' obsession, this film further SHATTERS any misconceptions that he's not to be taken seriously. This man is a badass. Now Crowe... he didn't really do anything for me. In my honest opinion I'm not sure if he really brings much to the movie. Whereas the trailer makes this movie look like some sort of cat-and-mouse thriller with Crowe chasing DiCaprio, really all Crowe does is play a detestable schlub who does his fair share of lying and deceiving. I feel kinda bad that he put on so much weight for the role because honestly there seemed to be little inspiration behind his performance. It's really unfortunate, but didn't take away from my enjoyment of the film.

 

In the end, as an action thriller, "Body of Lies" holds its own with the Bourne series that has basically reinvented the genre. It's exemplary of Monohan's gift with creating a HUGELY entertaining story with unpredictable twists, Scott's ability to make a solid and engaging film (only a year after "American Gangster"!), and DiCaprio's phenomenal acting chops. While I'm not sure it will be as much of a smash as last year's "Gangster" was, I can see word of mouth spreading about this one. I would most definitely pay to see this film again. This may not be remembered come Oscar season, but I'm expecting everyone to be quite surprised with "Body of Lies". Overall I'd score it about an 8.5/10, and will be sure to tell more about this great thriller.