Movie Review: Body of Lies

Posted on Dec 20, 2008

The good: Leonardo DiCaprio is “star power” defined. Holding the movie up in the air all by himself. Even though, a hint of one-sidedness is noticeable (Danny Archer from “Blood Diamond”, Billy Costigan from “The Departed” and Roger Ferris from “Body of Lies” are all the same guy, really).

The bad: Alon Abutbul is the ultimate in Israeli terrorist-portraying technology.

Comic relief: Simon McBurney as the one-man-show homosexual secret black-ops branch of the CIA run out of the woods (the C-I-Gay).

The girl: Golshifteh Farahani as the mysteriously-beautiful-Persian is not mysteriously beautiful at all (but Persian nonetheless).

Believability: CIA agents shooting people on the streets of Amman are as low-key as a teenager playing GTA on crack.

Bottom line: Good flick. Well written, played and directed.