Body Of Lies Film Review

Well, Ridley Scott certainly was cranking them out around this point, wasn’t he? There had been a significant amount of time between some of his earlier films, as opposed to around the mid-point of the noughties where he seems to have made a film per year. That can have a problematic effect on the overall quality; you can have hits like American Gangster and Matchstick Men or complete bombs like A Good Year. In the case of Body of Lies, it seems to fall in between. The plot is based around American and Arab relations and communications during the Obama era, and how surveillance and technological interference can possibly have a negative impact down the line.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a field officer who is assigned to track down a terrorist named Al-Saleem, the leader of a terrorist organisation, which is linked with Al Qaeda. After a meeting with an informant in Iraq goes horribly wrong, a series of bombings strike, one in Amsterdam and Manchester. Ferris proceeds to go to Jordan to seek him out. With Ed played by Russell Crowe the CIA’s head man in the East division, communicating with him from an earpiece from the United States.

Agreeing to partner up with Jordan’s head of the general intelligence directorate Hani Salaam played by Mark Strong for information about Al-Saleem. He soon becomes involved and entangled in a web of deceit and political unrest. Thrown into this is a nurse named Aisha played by Golshifteh Farahani. Who Ferris becomes dangerously involved with and which could affect not only his position but also their lives as things get too deep in.

The film raises an issue which remains a hot debate. The use of surveillance to spy on and observe Eastern countries for the sake of security. It's one that rages on, and the film here clearly doesn’t sugarcoat the issue. In fact, the film SO doesn’t sugarcoat the issue almost to the point of heavy-handedness. I will say that Leonardo DiCaprio is good with a role which asks him not to reveal too much. As well as, Russell Crowe who is active as someone who is sly and slick as he hides behind the earpiece.

However, the best performance in the whole film is Mark Strong. Who not only manages to be calm, collected and effectively suave but is by far the most engaging performance of the film. I think the biggest problem for me is an engagement level. I think the movie feels that what’s happening, or perhaps not happening at all, is more interesting than it actually is.

Even seeing everything through the lens of camera surveillance and observing conversations and debates about intel. I feel like I’m not being immersed in the drama as much as I am an outsider – which may be the point of the film – but that doesn’t make it any more interesting. There are specific sequences of nail-biting tension and suspense whenever Leonardo DiCaprio’s character deals with some extreme situations.

 Though, they feel more like a sequence of events rather than a flowing narrative. There is potential here for a hugely exciting story, and particularly with this being a real and problematic debate, it could have been much more. However, with Ridley Scott providing only reliable and not excellent direction. With William Monahan’s script also unable to raise enough interest in the subject matter as much as it should do. I’m ultimately left feeling cold.

The performances certainly raise themselves above the material and the cinematography by Alexander Witt, giving the film an almost voyeuristic and technically efficient eye. Unfortunately, the film’s heavy-handed approach doesn’t lend much to complete engagement, and at the very least, the film provides a debate to be discussed and thought out.

2 and a half/ 5