A CIA operative, Roger Ferris, uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. When Ferris devises a plan to infiltrate his network, he must first win the backing of cunning CIA veteran Ed Hoffman and the collegial, but perhaps suspect, head of Jordanian intelligence. Although ostensibly his allies, Ferris questions how far he can really trust these men without putting his entire operation--and his life--on the line.

I am not sure why movies based on a war we are currently fighting don't work, they just simply don't and for some reason Hollywood cannot grasp this. Movies about the Vietnam era didn't start working until the late 1970's and mid 1980's several years after the war had ended and we had distanced ourselves from the war. I cannot put my finger on why Body of Lies was kind of boring and seemed trite at the very best. Sure it has lots of action, plenty of subplots and characters but the film just fails to capture your imagination. It may be because the story is too broad and we are supposed to be drawn into this world of espionage and as an audience we find that difficult because we just aren't as intrigued by all the scheming going on by our government but just by the fact that we shouldn't still be fighting this war.

If you look at Ridley Scott's record he has always done better when his plots and stories are more focused like in Black Hawk Down. He simply tries to bite off too much with Body of Lies and the right wing liberal Hollywood preachiness comes bleeding through the screen. Nobody likes to be preached too or have their minds made up for them. I think most of us know that our government thinks of themselves as an all-powerful entity that doesn't have to answer to anyone and this is the reason much of the world has grown distaste for us. They lie to us, they lie to the world and making a film about fictional characters and a fictional situation and terrorist isn't going to solve the problem.

It’s just hard to feel for the characters, it’s hard to care about them or their story. They are obviously fictional when there are probably numerous real world stories about the war that could be told as well. But that faces the problem the fictional stories face everyone has gone weary of the war, weary of the media and Hollywood telling us how we should feel about the war. That is probably why we need distance before we can look back at it, it feels too preachy now, it feels too spoon-fed and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

Honestly both Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe give good performances but you wouldn't expect anything less of them. Its just that no matter how good they are the movie was always going to be a hard sell and unless they found a way to make the characters themselves a lot more interesting and someone we actually care for. All the other actors were nothing more than bit parts as this movie was placed on Leo's and Russell's shoulders and despite all their clout neither could save the movie from being a disappointment.

Grade: C