Reviews

Body of Lies

Another forgettable thriller

By BRETT MICHEL | October 16, 2008

2.0 Stars

Remember Spy Game? Tony Scott’s 2001 action thriller wasted the talents of two of Hollywood’s biggest (past and future) stars: Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Now, Scott’s older, beknighted brother, Ridley, squanders two of today’s biggest stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, in another forgettable thriller. Sir Ridley must have been a fan of Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, a superlative 2005 drama that humanized a pair of suicide bombers (Ali Suliman and Kais Nashif), but there’s little humanity here, as he casts the talented actors in throw-away roles. A scruffy DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative in the Middle East who launches f-bombs at his US handler, Ed Hoffman (Crowe), via constant cell connection –– when he’s not calling attention to himself by romancing a Muslim nurse (Golshifteh Farahani). British actor Mark Strong shines as Hani, the smooth head of Jordanian security, but for a film dealing with Intelligence, Body of Lies has little enough of its own. 129 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Harvard Square + Somerville Theatre + Chestnut Hill + Suburbs

Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movies, More

| More

See more deals

view all

[ 06/18 ] The Psychedelic Furs + Hope Anchor @ Fete

[ 06/18 ] House, by Alan Ayckbourn [playing with the interconnected Garden] @ Trinity Repertory Company

[ 06/18 ] "The Festive City," @ RISD Museum

ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL

WOMEN WITH SWORDS: KING HU AND THE ART OF WUXIA | March 12, 2013
Decades before women took center stage in the one-two punch of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill , King Hu (1932-1997; the subject of a retrospective at the HFA) put swords in the hands of a soaring heroine in Come Drink with Me.

REVIEW: EMPEROR | March 12, 2013
Yes, Tommy Lee Jones plays the "supreme commander" of the US forces in this historical drama from Peter Webber ( Girl with a Pearl Earring ) that takes place after the Japanese surrender in World War II, and the Oscar winner puts in another towering performance.

REVIEW: 21 AND OVER | March 05, 2013
As one of the Asian stereotypes in this hit-or-(mostly)-miss comedy from writer/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore says, "Fuck kids these days. Every one of you is drunk, stupid, and fat."

REVIEW: THE LAST EXORCISM PART II | March 06, 2013
Now that the shaky-cam nonsense has been left behind, what remains are textureless, overlit, sub-TV-quality visuals that only accentuate the fact that our protagonist, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell), is at least a decade older than the 17-year-old exorcised sect-escapee that she's playing.

REVIEW: JACK THE GIANT SLAYER | March 06, 2013
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a farm boy dreams of adventure, finds it, and falls in love with a princess along the way. (For everyone's sake, let's just hope she's not his sister.)