Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies
talks like an intimate character-study set amidst contemporary
U.S.-Middle East geopolitics, walks like a loud and explosive
action-film, and ends up mastering neither genre nor a
combination thereof. It feels like the talent involved couldn’t
decide whether they wanted to make Syriana, Rambo,
or The Kingdom and what resulted was a vat of emptiness.
Body of Nothing is more like it.
In all
fairness, I’m sure that Washington Post writer David
Ignatius’ source novel was probably a good one. The problem with
the film-adaptation isn’t that the characters or the plot are
intrinsically bad, it’s that the film can’t decide how to
balance and portray them. The set-up for Body of Lies is
interesting enough: Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a CIA
operative who, working with Langley handler Ed Hoffman (Russell
Crowe), develops a creative plan to catcha Jordan-based
terrorist-leader responsible for a slew of attacks named Al-Saleem
(Alon Abutbol). Ferris will make up a rival terrorist
organization with its own fictitious leader, bringing Al-Saleem
out of hiding because he will see a need to respond to someone
stealing his thunder.
Even with a
great director, two great actors, and a sturdy premise written
by an Oscar-winner (The Departed’s William Monahan),
Body of Lies fails to conjure up much of the viewer’s
interest. The plot moves in the opposite manner than that
expected from a Scott film: Ferris and Hoffman decide what
they’re going to do and they do it. Gone are the tricks, twists,
and nuances that distinguish the director’s best works in the
thriller genre. Outside of the central fabrication that Ferris
and Hoffman concoct to capture Al-Saleem—this admittedly makes
for the most engrossing passage of the film when it’s first
introduced—there really isn’t much deception taking place here,
contrary to what the title promises. Again, I return to the idea
that the movie wants to be two entirely separate things and in
the process avoids both. The material might have felt aptly
deceitful if it had offered the thoughtful introspection its
contemplative and quiet tone suggests, but it’s too caught up in
matters of plot to do so. Only trouble is: the plot in turn is
limited by said tone, meaning the film is rarely allowed to get
the viewer riled up. The action in seems more obligatory to
what’s keeping the story moving than does captivating and edgy.
And the
performances – what wastes of phenomenal thespians. In the lead
role, DiCaprio could’ve been replaced by just about any other
competent actor; the requirements for his role are that he fit
the profile of a working CIA operative and capture a certain
amount of anxious energy when scheming Ferris’ central-plan. He
does so fine, but this lends to a performance that is as blasé
as the character. Crowe is put in an even worse predicament,
spending his small amount of screen-time on the phone with
DiCaprio, literally “phoning it in” as Variety’s Todd
McCarthy quips in his review. Apparently, Scott had Crowe gain
fifty pounds to better look the part of his character, a droll
Southern cynic of a handler, which makes one wonder if Scott’s
vision was at all translated to the screen. Crowe plays such a
stock-seeming character that it’s hard to believe that Scott
thought a major physical change to be vital to the film’s
representation of Hoffman.
Body of
Lies comes less than a year after the release of a much
better Scott-Crowe collaboration, American Gangster. One
wonders if Scott had enough time to prepare for this film after
finishing that one. Given the can’t-miss reputation of the cast
and crew behind Body of Lies, this seems like the only
rational explanation for the picture’s failure. Now, all one can
do is put this mediocre dent in the usually-masterful
filmmaker’s resume out of mind—believe me, it’ll fade from
memory quickly—and hope that his next effort (which also stars
Crowe), Nottingham, represents a return-to-form.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 10.9.2008
Screened on: 10.6.2008 at the AMC
Burbank 16 in Burbank, CA.