Body of Lies User Reviews

Who knows what's going on in this movie? Another one with a lot of action and noise, but no logical, accessible plot. If you can form a thought, you won't like it.

03/23/2009, 1:09 pm

Body of Lies is a film that is rooted in a post 9/11 global terrorist world, in which deciphering the good guys from the bad guys is never as easy as it should be. Complicating such matters is that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys within distinct organizations (CIA, Al Qaeda, etc)... Director Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Gladiator, Alien) uses this premise to diffuse this film with questions of Who? and Why? Who are we fighting? Why are we fighting? Who are our allies? Who are our enemies? Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) plays a super secret CIA agent who infiltrates terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East with the aid (or detriment) of Ed Hoffman (Crowe) his CIA supervisor stationed in the USA. Through a series of leads and counter-leads, trusts and betrayals, Ferris finds himself with much blood on his hands and a conscious he cannot comprehend. DiCaprio seizes this role boldly and his range manages to demonstrate the conflict in his character as he maneuvers his way throughout a world without boundaries - a world where every turn could be his last. Crowe uses his suave demeanor to pull us in at first to his character who has a single minded approach to the war on terror: Do whatever is necessary to meet an end objective. However, his role soon becomes cliché and undefining. I found myself wondering if he would start to quote proverbial Dirty Harry lines. His complete lack of consciousness continually leads us to question the seriousness of his position, and one wonders if a more stoic and stern actor could have been chosen. Full of blood and intrigue and enough explosions and plot twists to keep most entertained throughout, the ultimate pitfall for the film is the completely wasted final third where the audience is subjected to an awful display of pandering to the love need. In a movie that could have stood quite well on its own with no mention of a female part, a female part is exactly what was injected under the most bizarre circumstances. Golshifteh Farahani plays the role of Aiesha, a local nurse who treats DiCaprio after one of his numerous blood soaked encounters. His immediate desire to court her while in the middle of trying to win the ultimate war speaks only to the insatiable appetite of men everywhere to satisfy their carnal needs. Was it necessary to spend so much of the movie focusing on this story line when there was so much that was left out? Farahani puts on a very believable role and I enjoyed her performance immensely, I only wish it had been part of a different film.

01/03/2009, 2:43 am

well i went today do not spend your money on this thing

12/27/2008, 6:36 pm

This is one of those movies that is great but go by without fanfare. Go see it unless you are a kid, or you have a short attention span and like nonthinking intertainment. If you like a good novel of todays headlines, you will love this movie in everyway. Otherwise stick with cartoons and comic action movies.

12/25/2008, 12:48 pm

I thought this was a great movie that held your attention completely the entire time. I was on the edge of my seat. If think DeCaprio did an excellent job and Crowe was amazing as I didn't even recognize him. The movie was very real and very posssible. I have seen it twice and feel more people need to see it to wake up.

11/15/2008, 7:04 pm

What I want in my movies is a real live suspension of disbelief. I want to watch and not be distracted by anything not part of the story. I want to enjoy the craftwork of actors and film makers, but not be distracted by it. Body of LIes did that for me nicely. Professional critics are not giving this film it's due... maybe because it hits the CIA and our whole premise for being in the middle east pretty hard. The film is a modern middle east snapshot of our top government spooks interacting with their top government spooks, and who gets caught in the middle, plus lots of high tech underlying it all, and it left me with a sense of the reality of the story- which is all I could ask.

11/14/2008, 2:40 pm

EXCELLENT

11/13/2008, 9:02 am

Great Movie...saw it twice...you have to pay attention to characters and locations to follow the story line. DeCaprio's role was great. The Jordanian ..Hanni was very good. This movie says alot about our need to have a presents in the middle east and engaged in a positive result. I recommed you see it!

11/08/2008, 5:21 pm

Just a mediocre,movie, the terrorist plot has been done to death. Really the same ole, same ole.

10/30/2008, 8:51 pm