While Body of Lies doesn’t revolutionize the espionage drama, it’s a solid film made all the more enjoyable by the performances of Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and the directing of Ridley Scott.

 

The plot is simple, but it throws some new ideas into the mix to keep things interesting. DiCaprio plays a CIA agent in the Middle East who is tracking down terrorists, and Crowe plays his meddling boss who controls things from his cushy home in Virginia. One of the interesting side plots involves DiCaprio’s partnership with the Syrian government’s spymaster, played memorably by Mark Strong. The other follows his growing relationship with a Muslim woman. It’s fascinating to see a Hollywood movie in which the star goes on a first date and can’t even shake the girl’s hand at the end of it.

 

Even though we’ve seen this plot before, Body of Lies works so well because of its execution. DiCaprio and Crowe are two of the very best actors in Hollywood, and they take scenes that would have been mediocre in the hands of lesser actors and make them dynamic. They are a pleasure to watch.

 

And, of course, Ridley Scott’s a pretty good director. He makes his points without preaching at us (I’m looking at you, Robert Redford, in Lions for Lambs). A main theme of the film is perspective--the agents on the ground in the war on terror have a far different viewpoint about it than do the executives and politicians in Washington.

 

To get this across, Scott sets up several scenes in which DiCaprio is in a life-threatening situation, such as a firefight in Syria, while Crowe is calmly talking to him from his kids’ soccer games or while on the boat behind his house. This not only drives home the point that it’s easy to not understand what’s going on when you live half a world away, but also makes for some laugh-out-loud moments in the middle of a serious, tension-filled scene.