Body of Lies
starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani, Ali Suliman and Alon Abutbul
screenplay by William Monahan
directed by Ridley Scott
Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
Based on the novel by David Ignatius Leonardo DiCaprio plays an Arabic-speaking CIA agent working in Iraqand Syria. He’s really good at it, too. I was impressed - and it takes a lot for Leonardo DiCaprio to impress me. Russell Crowe is DiCapiro’s handler back in Langely, Va.He’s a real bastard of a character, a pumped up with Yankee patriot and a barbarically pragmatic manipulator living the easy life in America while his agent lives undercover in the Middle East. I think it’s designed to make you hate the CIA, if you don’t already. It’s dramatic and tense. It has thrills and hair-raising action. It has conspiracy and betrayal, love, loyalty, divorce, cynical careerism, and reconciliation. I thought it was pretty good. A thrillingly human drama.