Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe attempt to cut off a terrorist cell in Jordan in Ridley Scott’s latest thriller, BODY OF LIES. DiCaprio is Roger Ferris, a CIA ground operative in the Middle East, with his mission to uproot potential terror networks. His domestic surveillance contact is Ed Hoffman, played by Crowe, a family man who never leaves his work behind, monitoring Middle East situations from his kitchen to his daughter’s elementary school. The terrorist the two are tracking down is Islamist Al-Saleem. Al-Saleem has been gradually building an underground infantry, and Roger and Ed plan to dismantle the network from the ground up. 
BODY OF LIES is familiar turf for Scott, mixing fact with fiction and drama with thrills. The film is based on the 2007 novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, and the screenplay, penned by Oscar winner William Monaham is as dry as an Associated Press news release. Much of the problem is the regurgitation of situations that Roger is wrapped up in. The repetitive nature of Roger working his way up the terrorists’ food chain is almost identical to watching a covert detective work his way up a drug cartel. Scott infuses these moments into well-orchestrated action sequences, and differing techniques with the camera, but not enough to overcome the predictability of events. DiCaprio holds his own for most of the picture, before succumbing to overwritten dialogue in the film’s finale. Crowe, on the other hand, feels drastically underutilized. The casting of Crowe as Ed is an interesting choice, downplaying the actor’s charisma and machismo, and electing to derive a wise and cunning nature from the Aussie. The result is a mixed bag, but ultimately a poor one, as Crowe ends up playing a much distant and less remarkable second fiddle to DiCaprio. BODY OF LIES is a missed opportunity for the talented pedigree.
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