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Movie:		7.0
Picture:		8.0
Sound:		8.0
Extras:		7.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Ridley Scott
Writer(s):	William Monahan (Screenplay), David Ignatius (Novel)
Starring:	Leonardo DiCaprio • Mark Strong • Russell Crowe • Golshifteh Farahani
Genre:	Action
Release Date:	February 17, 2009
Rated:

List Price:	DVD - $16.99 ; Blu-ray - $24.95
Amazon:

It's fair to say that the more complicated a subject is, the more infuriatingly oversimplified and dumbed down the Hollywood studio machine will render it - hackers cracking national defense grids with laptops, dinosaur DNA courtesy of a mosquito, etc. So when you hear Warner Brothers announce a film that dares to tackle the geo-political instability in the Middle East and the global War on Terror, you would be forgiven for not being exactly brimming over with confidence.

William Monahan knows a little something about weaving subtle misdirection as characters are forced into dangerous alliances having previously penned The Departed. He also has a strong stance on torture and the importance of depicting abhorrent physical brutality so as to properly convey the true essence of what is dangerously close to becoming just another word. Thanks to its tight and tidy script, some classy performances and Scott's confident, assured direction Body of Lies just about manages to save itself from its big studio fate. Chief amongst the plus points is a noticeable lack of soap boxing. With so many films built around post 9/11 politics unable to resist offering a crude and slanted statement as to the why of it all, Body of Lies ignores all that and just focuses on the "how".

After Russell Crowe's CIA section chief Ed Hoffman delivers a lengthy sound bite to the policy makers, explaining how terror cells are becoming untraceable by turning their back on technology, we're introduced to DiCaprio's Arab American Roger Ferris as the man on the ground. Searching out those who have dropped off the grid, Ferris is forced to pound the shoe leather for vital scraps of intel that take months to track down and a second's loss of concentration to compromise. It's another commanding, forceful performance as the man handed the thankless, highly dangerous task of infiltrating the networks and identifying targets in the region for special operations.

With Hoffman closely monitoring his every move via sophisticated surveillance drones, Ferris frantically gathers intelligence while simultaneously trying not to blow his cover, tip off his targets or piss off the local intelligence service. It's a ridiculous juggling act given superb face by a frantic, harassed DiCaprio who dodges bullets and explosions while subsisting on vital scraps of information and adrenaline. There are nods to certain hot button issues ("I'm not getting my head cut off on the Internet" barks one of Ferris' stools as they head into another dangerous contact situation), but this remains a simple parable of conscience. Ferris gradually begins to realize that all the people he has used and all the lives he's endangered really haven't made the blindest bit of difference. In fact he's probably made things worse.

As his far removed handler, Crowe's Hoffman make a wonderful foil for DiCaprio's wily spook. A big Southern bear of a man, Hoffman is the perfect allegory for Western involvement in the Middle East; arrogant, unrepentant and utterly convinced of his own superiority, Hoffman constantly second guesses Ferris from the comfort of a ball game or a grocery store and his blunt force trauma tactics regularly threaten to undermine all of Ferris' efforts, not to mention buy him a bullet in the back.

Electing to forgo the obvious and the redundant, Scott abandons the offices, the briefing rooms, and the high-tech command centers and instead offers up a playful sense of normalcy. Hoffman, never without his hands free orchestrates wanton acts of betrayal with flagrant disregard for both safety and sovereignty while taking his son to the bathroom or cheering on his daughter at soccer practice. But this is more than just an advert for the great genius of western intelligence and equal to the star names is Mark Strong's cool as ice Jordanian intelligence chief who instantly has the measure of Hoffman's crass bullyboy but thinks better the devil you know.

Despite Scott's well paced, gorgeously shot balance of spy movie smarts and big budget carnage, the film's sole Achilles heel comes in the form of a misguided insistence on injecting what it thinks a traditional audience wants from a big Hollywood picture. A wholly unnecessary romance between Ferris and an Iranian Nurse Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani) seems to chiefly serve as a vehicle to crowbar in a few unwelcome East/West talking points (they actually go on a "date" to a Palestinian refugee camp). Beyond that the pace is relentless, the violence uncomfortably nasty, and the message crystal clear - we simply can't win doing what we're doing.

Then, having spent the entire film expertly illustrating that the ongoing situation in the region is so complex that trying to force it to bend to any conventional means of control is just an exercise in futility, we're handed a resolution so neat and tidy as to go full speed ahead against its own message. But taken as a whole Body of Lies is a superbly crafted espionage thriller with top to bottom flawless performances driven by one of the finest directors working today. If you can forgive its big studio failings, you will likely not see a more intelligent actioner this year.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

Extras on this Blu-ray special edition include a quite engrossing three-way commentary spliced together that features Scott, scripter William Monahan, and David Ignatius, author of the original source novel. Between the three of them it's something of a crash course on big budget movie making, the process of writing, editing and rewriting, and the diversities of Middle East politics. Scott regales you with stories of his numerous shoots in Morocco, Ignatius highlights exactly what's true (a surprising amount) and what's creative license, and Monahan tells you more in thirty minutes about streamlining a screenplay than you'd learn at a $300 weekend seminar. Alongside that are the customary deleted scenes, a series of polished featurettes dissecting the various dynamics of the movie, and an online exclusive behind the scenes look in HD.