The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies

Body of Lies

Another forgettable thriller
By BRETT MICHEL  |  October 16, 2008
2.0 2.0 Stars
liesINSIDE.jpg

Remember Spy Game? Tony Scott’s 2001 action thriller wasted the talents of two of Hollywood’s biggest (past and future) stars: Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Now, Scott’s older, beknighted brother, Ridley, squanders two of today’s biggest stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, in another forgettable thriller. Sir Ridley must have been a fan of Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, a superlative 2005 drama that humanized a pair of suicide bombers (Ali Suliman and Kais Nashif), but there’s little humanity here, as he casts the talented actors in throw-away roles. A scruffy DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative in the Middle East who launches f-bombs at his US handler, Ed Hoffman (Crowe), via constant cell connection –– when he’s not calling attention to himself by romancing a Muslim nurse (Golshifteh Farahani). British actor Mark Strong shines as Hani, the smooth head of Jordanian security, but for a film dealing with Intelligence, Body of Lies has little enough of its own. 129 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Harvard Square + Somerville Theatre + Chestnut Hill + Suburbs
Related: Review: State of Play, Dead end, A Good Year, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movies,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT  |  November 04, 2009
    The Star Wars –style titles that begin Kenny Ortega’s hastily assembled Michael Jackson tribute documentary explain that the film has been whittled down from 100 hours of behind-the-scenes video shot between last April and June during rehearsals for the King of Pop’s planned 50-date “This Is It” London concert series.
  •   REVIEW: THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY  |  November 02, 2009
    You’d think Troy Duffy would have learned something in the decade since he blew his golden ticket with The Boondock Saints .
  •   REVIEW: THE STEPFATHER  |  October 21, 2009
    If you call a film The Stepfather , then your title character should have the decency to marry into that perfect little family that he’s predisposed to butcher and kill.
  •   REVIEW: AN EDUCATION  |  October 15, 2009
    Let’s get this right out of the way: Carey Mulligan is the real thing.
  •   INTERVIEW: JESSE EISENBERG AND WOODY HARRELSON  |  October 07, 2009
    Vampires may have taken a bite out of the popular zeitgeist in the past couple of years, but the nearly $25 million in ticket sales that greeted the opening of Zombieland, as it shuffled into theaters this past weekend, just goes to prove that while flesh-eating ghouls might be (un)dead, you should never count them out.

 See all articles by: BRETT MICHEL

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group