Body of Lies Review

Body of Lies is a spy thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Watching it, I couldn't help but compare it to another "Lies" movie about Islamic terrorists, True Lies. In every important way, True Lies is a far superior film to Body of Lies. Of the two, True Lies is much more entertaining, and that's the most important thing when watching a movie.

In Body of Lies, Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a Middle Eastern specialist for the CIA, reporting to older and more experienced Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe). They are on the hunt for a brutal terrorist named Al-Saleem, who they learn has a safe house in Amman, Jordan. While surveilling the safe house, Ferris gets bitten by a couple of dogs and receives treatment from a pretty Iranian nurse living in Amman. The nurse, Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani), catches Ferris' eye and he is soon asking her to dinner. If Ferris had watched True Lies, he'd know that it's not a good idea to kindle a romance while up to his ears in intrigue.

Ferris eventually faces down Al-Saleem and the world is kept safe for truth, justice and the American way. The ending was astonishingly anticlimactic and Body of Lies' famous director (Ridley Scott) could have taken a lesson from True Lies' even more famous director (James Cameron) about how to create a properly satisfying ending.

I didn't much care for Body of Lies. I like Leonardo DiCaprio well enough, and he's good as Roger Ferris, if a little intense and dour. I'm less fond of Russell Crowe, who comes across as an unfunny version of Tom Arnold in this movie. (Tom Arnold played the funny sidekick in True Lies, but the fact is that Crowe bears something of a physical resemblence to Arnold in Body of Lies.) Perhaps the worst part is that Body of Lies is confusing and ultimately boring because it is so confusing. Although we know who the bad guy is, the good guys are made out to be not all that much better.

Body of Lies is R-rated and has lots of violence and blood, some of it cringe-worthy. The film also has quite rough language. Between the language and the violence, Body of Lies should be reserved for 16 year-olds and older. There is no nudity or even a hint of sex in Body of Lies, and the most romantic scene has two people deciding whether they can shake hands in public.

Body of Lies wasted the efforts of two A-List actors in a long, confusing, bloody and profane film. If you want to see a similar plot in a far more entertaining film, I recommend True Lies.