Body Of Lies: It's an enormously competent spy action thriller with big stars

From the trailer, I feared this might just be Jason Bourne again. Ridley Scott's new action thriller about the war on terror is an unmistakably Hollywood product with big, bankable stars, but it feels commendably real.
That's partly because, though based on a novel, it draws on ten years during which the writer, David Ignatius, covered the CIA and Middle Eastern politics for The Wall Street Journal.
There's a richness of factual detail, and Scott is just the man to bring out the texture of terrorism.

Thrilling: Mark Strong and Leonardo DiCaprio give solid performances in new Hollywood film Body Of Lies

It's an intricately plotted picture which revels in the subterfuges of spying and counter-espionage.
I especially enjoyed the nifty way terrorists in the desert can cloud the vision of American spy planes, and the way Western intelligence sets up a fake terrorist cell to confuse the enemy.
The unacceptable face of U.S. foreign policy is portrayed unnervingly well by Russell Crowe.
This is his third movie for Ridley Scott, after the excellent Gladiator and excruciating A Good Year.

 

It's a welcome return to form, and a reminder that Crowe is often at his best when he isn't trying to ingratiate.
He put on 30lb to play Ed Hoffman, a racist, impatient, cigar-puffing CIA chief, whose only interest in the Middle East is as a place where terrorists can be held at arm's length or, better still, killed.
Hoffman's callous chicanery is a limitless source of frustration for his best young operative, Roger Ferris (Leonardo Dicaprio), who speaks fluent Arabic and is much more culturally sensitive than his boss. He's also more emotionally involved with people on the ground, not least when he starts dating a pretty Iranian nurse (Golshifteh Farahani).

Suspense: Russell Crowe put on 30lb to play Ed Hoffman, pictured with Leonardo Dicaprio playing Roger Ferris

Hoffman and Ferris are both, in their different ways, trying to capture Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul), an emerging terrorist leader who is orchestrating a campaign of bombings in Europe.
They need the help of the suave, sardonic and highly efficient chief of the Jordanian Secret Service, Hani Salaam (British actor Mark Strong). But Hoffman doesn't trust Hani an inch. And Hani doesn't like people who lie to him.
Scott's unusual technique is to use several cameras from different angles on the same take, and keep the number of takes to a minimum.
This has the benefit of keeping the actors fresh and spontaneous - they don't have to keep doing the same scenes over and over again. Strong, in particular, is terrific, and steals every scene he's in.
Scott is enough of an old pro to keep the action moving without sacrificing human interest. Give him an intelligent script - this one's by William Monahan, who recently won an Oscar for The Departed - and you have an entertaining thriller which holds your interest for all of its 129 minutes.
There are implausibilities, however. Most involve DiCaprio's ability to blend in with the Arab population, and his willingness to wander the streets of Amman without any security or back-up.
I never believed in the romantic sub-plot, either. The Iranian nurse is easy on the eye, but seems little more than a dramatic device to motivate the film's denouement. She's obviously going to betray our hero or get herself kidnapped.
Body Of Lies trots the globe as energetically as any Bourne or Bond film. Scott hasn't forgotten that action films require more than action: they need tension and suspense.
And his scenes of torture involve us in the suffering of the characters  -  they are not mere sadistic voyeurism.
It may seem surprising to find a director of Scott's stature dedicating a year of his life to a project as apparently humdrum as this. The key to his intentions lies in his opening quotation from W.H. Auden: 'Those to whom evil is done/Do evil in return.'
He shows a world where the U.S. is using terrorist tactics to combat terrorism, with counter-productive results.
I don't think it's fanciful to see DiCaprio's character as representing America's doubts about being in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I would have liked to see this theme developed.
And DiCaprio, despite a wispy beard, lacks the age and gravitas for the role.
This is not one of Ridley Scott's best films - it's too conventional and mechanical for that. Even successes such as Alien and Blade Runner have shown that he is not the warmest of directors, and as usual, he remains ill-at-ease with humour and romance.
Body Of Lies lacks the epic sweep of Gladiator and the emotional pull of Thelma And Louise. But it's enormously competent, with a couple of fine supporting performances from Crowe and Strong.
For anyone in search of a good, solid thriller, it's a heck of a lot better than Quantum Of Solace.