October
8
Body of Lies: Yes, DiCaprio is a Movie Star
Body of Lies is a movie that a major studio greenlit because two stars and a star director--all proven commercial commodities--wanted to make it. Ridley Scott and Warners producer Donald DeLine corralled Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe (overweight and middle-aged, with a southern drawl) to star in this anti-CIA Middle East intrigue.
Yes, it's a thriller, with guns and explosions and helicopters and cutting edge gadgetry. It pits a tough honorable man against other equally tough not-so-honorable men. Nothing new there. Unfortunately, it is set in Iraq, which makes me want to run out of the theater. So why did I go to the screening last night? Because Scott and DiCaprio and Crowe are irresistable. And while I was often wishing I were somewhere else, the movie delivers. (Critics are giving it 50 % on Rotten Tomatoes so far.)
DiCaprio is a movie star: I have to see whatever movie he does. Crowe is always fun. And Scott knows how to keep things moving. Todd McCarthy liked it less than I did:
Neither the location-based verisimilitude of Ridley Scott's shooting style nor the estimable Middle East expertise of source-material author David Ignatius can disguise "Body of Lies" as anything other than the contrived phony-baloney it is. Coming on like an inside account of CIA operations against jihad-minded terrorists, pic shows its true colors by featuring a shootout, chase or big explosion every 10 minutes or so, on its way to a climax so conventional it would have been at home in a 1940s Warner Bros. melodrama. Despite the Iraq War hovering in the background, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe leading the charge in a high-octane would-be thriller should produce solid mainstream B.O. worldwide.
The movie looks to open big this week. But I'm not the only one resisting the Iraq subject matter. One third of moviegoers asked by Movietickets.com if "the backdrop of Body of Lies would impact your decision to see it" answered yes:
31% - Yes 69% - No Total votes on MovieTickets.com: 1,985
Here's the trailer:
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Technically, it's not about Iraq through some scenes take place there. It's basically a globe trotting, old fashioned spy thriller from the 1960's with Islamic terrorists instead of the KGB as the villians. (In many ways, situation wise, it's very similar to Ridley's brother Tony Scott's film Spy Game) But a thrill-a-minute ride that I dug a lot and yes you're right DiCaprio is a movie star. He has this intense Janes Dean-like quality about him. (And man, does he gets the living daylights beat out of him in the film...more than once!) But will I be the only person who will think that Mark Strong, who plays the head of Jordanian intelligence in Lies, steals the film cold every time he's on the screen?
And that actress who plays DiCaprio's love interest in the film is drop dead GORGEOUS!
Posted by: Sergio | October 08, 2008 at 04:41 PM
yes, she's gorgeous but there wasn't enough of her. And Mark Strong was a powerful adversary. One of my fave scenes was his standoff with Crowe and DiCaprio.
Posted by: anne thompson | October 08, 2008 at 05:31 PM
I won't be rushing out to see this despite adoring Scott's best work. "American Gangster" was weak and "A Good Year" even weaker, so Ridley's script radar often wobbles. I wish he would revisit sci-fi so as to exploit his visual prowess ( John Birmingham's "Axis of Time" trilogy would be perfect ! ), but DiCaprio was magnetic in "Blood Diamond" & is bound to be an asset here. But I'll probably wait for the DVD & one of Scott's excellent commentaries.
Posted by: eve black | October 08, 2008 at 05:40 PM
@ A
True, I wish there was more of her too or least a final scene between her and DiCaprio
@eve
Well then you'll be happy to know that Scott has announced this week that one of his future projects (maybe after that Nottingham project...if ever gets off the ground) is a film version of Huxley's Brave New World.
He also a couple of months said that he has a sci-fi project he wants to do with Crowe, but that if it's done the way he wants it to it'll get a NC-17 rating for violence
Posted by: Sergio | October 08, 2008 at 07:18 PM
Like you, I'll give any film the talented DiCaprio is in a 'look and see'.
When ending "BOL" credits rolled,I walked away feeling both DiCaprio and the film had given me my money's worth .
Posted by: perceptions | October 08, 2008 at 08:29 PM
Perceptions, how could you have gotten your money's worth if you probably didn't pay to see it considering it hasn't been released yet.
Posted by: Jeff | October 08, 2008 at 09:41 PM
Jeff
I'm paying to see it again with a friend on Saturday, and , thanks, to my early viewing, I know going in I will be getting my money's worth
Posted by: perceptions | October 08, 2008 at 09:53 PM
hey sergio you are the fing man. yea mark strong stole the show every scene with him in it gave a feeling of conflict and as ? someone from rt said "urgancy" or lack their of. As he put it. favorite scene when leo get's on the heli and is lifted of after his honorable partner parishis. that's the money shot in this film. But I am still trying to figure out if this film is good as the production/talent sugests it is or could be. The resoulution was boring for a thrillar/spy film. the tourture scene ended without any sentiment of strungle or adversity hastly. The end of the film I thought could use a monlouge,
to drive the message home without a blatant political message although the content of the film self served a metaphore for the war on terror.
***
Posted by: makado | October 11, 2008 at 11:12 PM
ridly scott is thit!
I don't understand why everyone hated "a good year" The film was dif from "normal" ridly scott films but it explored the american dream generaly and effective by the use of nostalgia.
Geat film!
Posted by: brandon | October 12, 2008 at 03:15 PM