Body of Lies

Body of Lies (2008) is built on the distance between a CIA officer in the field and the supervisor running him from a kitchen in Virginia. Ferris is trying to break a network in Jordan while Hoffman reverses his decisions down a phone line and breaks the promises he makes. Its best idea is that the two men never carry the same risk. Every mistake Ferris makes registers on his body; Hoffman is dropping his children at school at the same moment. Ridley Scott keeps that contrast alive in the cutting. The source is a novel by the Washington Post journalist David Ignatius. William Monahan, who wrote The Departed, adapted it. Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe lead, Crowe having put on considerable weight for the part. Mark Strong plays Hani, the head of Jordanian intelligence, and he is the most balanced character in the film. It runs 128 minutes. Good for: espionage thrillers, procedural stories set in the Middle East, and DiCaprio. Less good for: the torture and violence are heavy. Most of the characters from the region exist to serve the Americans' story, and the romantic subplot feels stuck onto the film.