CIA, check. Terrorists, check. Betrayals, triple check. Leonardo DiCaprio with a very distracting goatee, check.
So, the movie that DiCaprio claimed to have gotten ill because of a particular torture scene finally got to see the light of day. Or the darkness of a cinema. Whatever. Before you get yourself a ticket though, you need to do some slight reading on the synopsis, because it isn’t exactly easy to get. Actually, you probably need a PhD to completely and wholly understand the dialogue. Basically, you need to be prepared for three things: people going undercover, people betraying one another, and a whole encyclopedia of faces/names. Alternatively, you could turn off your brain and enjoy the explosions and torture scenes.
The point is, it’s a good thriller, but halfway through the bombings you begin to think, “Wait, why does this feel like Michael Bay hijacked the set?” Body Of Lies is very good entertainment, although I don’t really know if it’s supposed to be. Like Blood Diamond, you feel as though someone’s trying to make a point. Like Blood Diamond, you can’t figure out what it is they’re trying to say. Like Blood Diamond, the topic of concern has no trouble fading into the backdrop the moment the gunfire starts. Is it supposed to be a political flick? The script does a poor job telling us with its faux-genius but muddled narration. Oh, and there’s lots of traveling, because everything that has the CIA involved automatically calls for smart alec agency-type subtitles like, “9:15 AM. New York, United States of America”. If I have an urge to watch any of the Bourne movies, I’ll let you know, thanks.
Despite the movie drowning in its own self-importance, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio do make a very good on-screen pair. (Not in that way, you dirty minded freak.) I’ll put it this way: they played each other off well enough I was temporarily distracted from the Oscar statues in DiCaprio’s eyeballs. Yes, there was a bit of overacting, but the movie on the whole is an intense piece, meaning I did lean forward in my chair more than once. Then there’re the off-beat, misplaced but nevertheless comic moments, which I’m not sure were intentional or not (there’s one involving DiCaprio getting bitten by possibly rabid dogs). Body Of Lies is too smart for its own good, and could’ve – no, would’ve – been better had it not taken itself as highbrow entertainment.
(First published at InCinemas)
