OVERALL 3/5
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: action
Running time: 128'

Watching a film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott is always going to be a mouthwatering prospect, but this comes with a more demanding yardstick as to what the end result has to offer. In the case of Body of Lies, this more rigorous standard is not very kind or forgiving. The film is smart, but not smart enough; it begs to be taken seriously, yet puts its protagonist in a series of situations even James Bond would have trouble surviving. The film looks great, but the Scott's fixation with visual elegance all but trumps the story's clarity. Or maybe this is on purpose - is there is a story there at all? One is not sure, but if there is, it has something to do with a CIA operative's awakening consciousness and his boss's cult of disinformation and ruthless expediency on both sides of a plan to smoke out an Arab terrorist big boss. Whatever story there is, it is hopelessly buried under subplots, complications and distracting bouts of visual brilliance.

Scott hits the ground running with a lovingly shot piece of terrorist vintage heroism. Inner-city Manchester is blown to smithereens before the attentive eyes of a thousand cameras with a penchant for slow-motion. At this juncture and others, Scott comes dangerously close to his brother Tony's preferred territory of music-video aesthetics and artistic disdain for story, but quickly makes sure we know which Scott film we are watching. Soon enough we are following a CIA operative named Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) waging a one-man war on a terrorist organisation doubling for Al-Qaeda with the most bizarre of tactics. His gambit is fabricating a rival terrorist group with a fictitious leader, which he believes will prompt the genuine terrorists to expose themselves.

Just why they would do that I am not sure, but putting this plan to work soon makes Ferris question CIA tactics and the values employed. The man representing the CIA approach Ferris begins to loathe is his handler in Washington named Ed Hoffman (Crowe). His cold pragmatism seems to be based on lying to everybody and not caring about innocent people dying as a result of those lies. Putting his ethics aside, Hoffman is quite the intriguing character and his Transatlantic conversations with Ferris make it worth your while. Even more interesting is the Jordanian intelligence chief (Mark Strong) who likes his cigars and nightclubs, but is in perfect control of his element. Next to these two, DiCaprio's Ferris looks a bit off colour even though he is basking in the light of the highly unlikely Bond-esque plot device of a romance with an Arab nurse.

It is not that it is downright disappointing, but it leaves a moderately bitter taste in one's mouth. It is not on par with Scott's previous topical projects Black Hawk Down or Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever the message of the film at hand, it is marred by the preposterous action and thriller-style flourishes, which are at odds with the serious tone it seems to be attempting. Exiting the theatre one can expect the peculiar blend of moderate satisfaction and a delicate regret that the film has not been as good as it could have.