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It's refreshing to watch a movie where the viewer is not always two steps ahead of the characters. The screenplay for Body of Lies is in the same league. And his original storyline for Kingdom of Heaven was far more thought-provoking than the neutered version that reached screens (as anyone who has seen the Director's Cut will testify).
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He took the basics of Infernal Affairs and fleshed them out for The Departed. The screenwriter is William Monahan (adapting from a novel by David Ignatius), who is developing a reputation as someone whose scripts are multifaceted and detailed. Visually, the film is interesting in the way it uses satellite images to present a wider, bird's eye view of the action. For the most part, the tone is one of seriousness, but Scott allows for one scene of levity and a little light romance. The do not take their martinis shaken (not stirred) - they gulp down the vodka in one mouthful and get on with the job. There's nothing suave or dignified in the ways these characters interact. While the globe-trotting may be James Bond-like, the activities of the spies are not. But Hani is as smart and manipulative as any CIA director and Ferris finds himself trapped between orders from Hoffman and the Jordanian's single directive: Do not lie to me.īody of Lies crisscrosses the globe, with scenes taking place in no less than a half-dozen countries, including the United States, England, Holland, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria. To do this, they must partner with the head of Jordan's Intelligence Agency, Hani (Mark Strong). Ferris and Hoffman's latest operation has them going after an Osama Bin Laden clone, Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul). Hoffman is his desk-bound boss, who sits like a spider at the center of a web in Langley, watching Ferris from above via real-time satellite images. He can tell that a nurse working in Amman is from Iran based on her accent. He can move with ease from Iraq to Jordan to Syria. Ferris is the field guy he has all the contacts and knows the layout. Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) are a CIA team.
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Rather than attempting to dissect the plot in any detail, the best approach is to lay the groundwork. Despite the convoluted nature of the storyline and the way events jump from one location to another, Body of Lies is consistently well paced and, as it moves past the 60 minute mark into its second hour, it begins to exhibit more of what we expect from a thriller: tension and suspense. Body of Lies isn't going to find much favor among the teenage crowd but it is the kind of motion picture that older, more sophisticated viewers hunger for. Ridley Scott isn't afraid to take risks and he has built up enough Hollywood credibility to allow him to make the film he wants. It's smart and complex in the same way that films like Syriana and The Departed are smart and complex. And, while the movie is very much story-driven, it doesn't lose sight of the characters along the way. It involves current events and has a political viewpoint, but it overplays neither. Body of Lies neither panders nor condescends. It engages the mind instead of punishing those who use it for reasoning.
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The film is the antithesis of a slick, superficial feature like Eagle Eye. Body of Lies is an adult thriller with such a high narrative density that even a brief trip to the restroom may result in key plot points being lost.