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List Price: $19.96 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 4860
Released: February 17, 2009 |
| Our Price: $9.61 |
| Used Price: $1.96 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The CIAs hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agencys man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky a satellite link watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIAs Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival. Leonardo DiCaprio (as Ferris) and Russell Crowe (as Hoffman) star in Body of Lies, adapted by William Monahan (The Departed) from the David Ignatius novel. Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Black Hawk Down) directs this impactful tale, orchestrating exciting action sequences and plunging viewers into a bold spy thriller for our time.
Body of Lies (Full-Screen Edition) Reviews:
Horrible war on terror propaganda 
2009-12-27 - this movie gives an extremely US-centric and therefore biased of not only the reality of the war on terror but also middle eastern culture and its people. If you want to be brainwashed, go ahead and buy or rent it. If you want something much more truthful, watch rendition or the valley of elah.
Wanted To 
2009-12-26 - I really wanted to like this one more. A CIA espionage team vs radical Muslim terrorists should have been a bit more exciting. I thought the lead actors Dicaprio ad Crowe were excellent with Crowe gaining considerable weight for his role. The story seems to be building nicely throughout the movie, but the payoff at the end is a bit of a let down. When the credits rolled, I really felt unsatisfied by the movie. Maybe further viewings will change my opinion, but for now this movie is average.
Sleeper hit 
2009-12-26 - Probably one of the better movies I have seen this year, a real sleeper hit with no doubt. I didn't hear too much about it when it came out, but glad I picked it up.
Body of Lies
2009-12-20 - This is a good DiCaprio film, it's gritty, actiony, and looks like a good view in the world of terrorists.
A Gritty, Raw Thriller
2009-12-16 - Anytime Ridley Scott is behind the camera the viewer can be assured there will be gratuitous violence presented in a most convincing manner; if you're not squirming uncomfortably you aren't watching a Ridley Scott film. And such is very much the case with Scott's latest offering, BODY OF LIES, a taut, gripping, white-knuckle thriller set in the turbulent Middle East. Although the general story revolves around a CIA operative in Jordan trying to find a mastermind terrorist, the overall theme has to do with trust--in particular, the lack thereof between not only the CIA and other foreign intelligence services, but between operatives of the CIA itself.
I'm going to hate myself in the morning, but I am rapidly becoming a very big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio. His role as CIA agent Roger Ferris--a role that takes him to several unpleasant locations and exposes him to constant danger--is gritty, believable, and nuanced as only DiCaprio can mould a character. He's frustrated by his CIA higher-ups, including superior Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), because of the constant roadblocks put in his path that prevents him from doing his job. And DiCaprio's Ferris also demonstrates that all this living on the edge is wearing him razor thin--and the thread's about to snap. Meanwhile Crowe is fun to watch as the chubby, aloof, almost disinterested "eye in the sky" following Ferris's movements on the ground; I got a kick out of him talking violent strategy with DiCaprio's character via bluetooth while he's loading his kids in the back of his station wagon. Priceless.
But Mark Strong as Jordanian intelligence czar Hani Salaam steals the show; he's a cold, calculating, scheming professional, and he's not hampered by the human rights issues of his American counterparts. And in the end he gets the ultimate "Gotcha!" moment--an ending in a showdown with a room full of terrorists and a scene not for the faint of heart. Less than five stars as the plot meanders needlessly at times, yet if it's a heart-pounding espionage thriller you're looking for BODY OF LIES will not disappoint.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
