Curiously lightweight...escapes neither the slick histrionics of a typical studio blockbuster nor the clumsiness that afflicts movies with political messages.
Comment
10/09/08
Body of Lies (2008)
51
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:188
Fresh:96
Rotten:92
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: Body of Lies relies on the performances of Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio to elevate it beyond the conventional espionage thriller.
Theatrical Release:21-11-2008
Synopsis: Leonardo DiCaprio fights terrorists for the CIA in this rapid-fire thriller from director Ridley Scott (GLADIATOR, BLACK HAWK DOWN). While Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) gets his hands dirty on the... [More]
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani
Director: Ridley Scott
Reviews for Body of Lies
161 - 180 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Isn't it time someone did a serious cost-benefit analysis on the filmmaking partnership of Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott?
10/09/08
A tight, first-rate espionage thriller that casts a bleak light on American involvement in the Middle East.
10/09/08
Body of Lies is an expertly made, well-acted movie, and that makes it worth seeing, but it's not what it could have been.
10/09/08
'Body of Lies' is a tense, deftly paced meditation on America's role in the Middle East, and if it's not quite a war movie, it offers somber insights into the Bush administration's campaign against terror that recent thrillers like 'The Kingdom' have not.
10/09/08
Body of Lies isn't half bad, sprinkling in well-shot action and some moments of genuine suspense.
10/08/08
While action-adventure conventions take precedence over socio-political analysis, visceral kicks are in short supply, a situation that throws the film's tendencies toward stale misdirection and goofy melodrama into sharp relief.
10/08/08
The plot devolves into a potboiler, reduced to a series of sequences wherein DiCaprio and Crowe can posture with the requisite machismo
10/08/08
The Hollywood Surge still isn't working.
10/08/08
Collaborating with a director who doesn’t give a damn, DiCaprio and Crowe have made a political action flick totally without emotional impact.
10/08/08
What distinguishes the book with gripping realism may not be so apparent in the cinematic context. Still, for spy calculus, action, and character realization, I assign you to see it.
10/08/08
If you're looking for a high-tech, old-fashioned racist B-western, you've come to the right place, pilgrim.
10/08/08
Working from a screenplay by William Monahan, Scott takes rusty '80s clichés from the days when we were playing nuclear chicken with Russia and retrofits them to the post-9/11 world. He exposes how weary those old spy tropes really are.
10/08/08
It's a wonder that Body of Lies squanders all of those ingredients in a dry, convoluted mess.
10/08/08
For the most part, this is a pretty solid thriller that combines Government mumble jumble with some pretty exciting action sequences.
10/08/08
Violent spy thriller more about style than story.
10/08/08
Each character thinks that what he's doing is the right course for the greater good. But when you break down Body of Lies to its most fundamental elements, it's really about disagreeing with your boss.
10/08/08
The confusing new movie, adapted way too faithfully from David Ignatius’s tricky 2007 novel, has more plot than necessary.
10/08/08
Body of Lies is yet another in a long, tiresome line of loud, violent, nauseating and incoherent riffs on how mercenary and inhuman the spooks in the C.I.A. are, even to each other.
10/08/08
Reaching perhaps for the artistic merit of 'Syriana,' director Ridley Scott instead unfolds a convoluted story with little wit and flat humor.
10/08/08
Latest News for Body of Lies
February 16, 2009:
RT on DVD: High School Musical 3 or Midnight Meat Train?
It's a good week for mediocre films (Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine and Flash of Genius, which all walk a fine line between Fresh and Rotten) and an even better one if... More...
February 15, 2009:
The macho swagger of these US espionage interlopers around the planet has all the finesse of a wrestling ring, while imperialism is made to come off as really sexy. Body Of Lies: An Amman Gangster. 
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February 08, 2009:
The macho swagger of these US espionage interlopers around the planet has all the finesse of a wrestling ring, while imperialism is made to come off as really sexy. Body Of Lies: An Amman Gangster.
More...
November 21, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Does Ridley Scott’s Body Of Lies Ring True? Is Blindness Blinding Or Bland?
It's a varied pick of films in the UK cinemas this week; we have Sir Ridley Scott's latest collaboration with Russell Crowe, the CIA thriller, Body Of Lies. Julianne Moore and... More...
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