Body of Lies

I’m not much of a mathematician, but you can say this one is Crowe + Scott + DiCaprio = Disappointment. You expect Beverly Hills Chihuahua to be a big old stinker of a movie, but Body of Lies?

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Roger Ferris – a CIA operative bouncing around the Middle East in the fight against terrorism. Now, he finds himself in Amman and trying to strike up a helpful relationship with the mysterious and ruthless Jordanian security chief, Hani (Mark Strong). However, Hani is very suspicious of the young agent because of previous problems with Ferris’s boss, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe).

Will Hoffman and Ferris’s unique strategy to find an emerging mastermind terrorist who has been ordering recent attacks all over Europe, Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul), be successful?

What might they lose in the process?

Body of Lies suffers because it takes much too long to get to the meat of the plot, rambles on and on without a point most of the time, and wastes some one of the most formidable cast of acting talent assembled in a movie this year. What happened?

DiCaprio is fantastic as the intense young agent who is willing to tell his boss what he really thinks. He brings an amazing amount of energy to the role and, by sheer force of will, keeps you interested even as his character is stuck with a stupid, unnecessary love story.

Strong is smooth as silk and as dangerous as a lion as the all powerful security chief who wants to embrace Ferris, but remembers he has been betrayed before. He brings Hani a wonderful mix of style, class and viciousness that makes him the most interesting character in the movie (until his last scene, which I couldn’t hate more!).

Sadly, I can’t figure out what Crowe is trying to accomplish in Body of Lies. He makes Hoffman into some weird parody of George Bush with a comical southern accent and odd buffoonery that makes Hoffman a character too easily dismissible. You can’t take him serious amid the strange behavior, attempts at humor and attitude that betrays the gravity of the situation. He needs some of DiCaprio’s seriousness and intensity, which we all know he can deliver.

William Monahan’s script (based on the book by David Ignatius) hints at a movie that is full of more mystery and a web of deceit that doesn’t quite find its way to the screen, and I think Scott has to take some blame for making Hoffman too comical and refusing to foster the mystery until it is too late to care. Instead of building up to something exciting and explosive at the end, the audience is left with a fairly typical and uninspired plot twist.

Body of Lies is rated R for strong violence including some torture, and for language throughout