Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Body of Lies - DVD Review

           Based on the novel by David Ignatius, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crow star in this movie where they track down a fictional terrorist named al-Saleem.   In the opening scene, we see a bomb go off in Manchester, England, and from there the chase is on to find al-Saleem.  

            al-Saleem is hiding out in Jordan and DiCaprio, who plays Roger Ferris, a consultant, goes there to work with Hani Salaam, who is head of security.  Salaam would ask that Ferris would make one promise to him; never lie to him.  

             That would seem difficult since Ferris’ boss, Russell Crowe, who plays Ed Hoffman, has his own agenda.  He wants to do things his way and will get the job done anyway he can.  

              What makes the plot interesting to me is that you never really know who is telling the truth or who is lying throughout the movie.  The plot only thickens when Salaam wants Ferris to be patient and take his time about finding and capturing al-Saleem.  Hoffman doesn’t agree, wanting to get this done with as soon as possible no matter what the cost is. 

              In several scenes, you can see Ferris is in Jordan and when he is talking to Hoffman, he is at home.  Usually, Ferris is complaining that he doesn’t like the way Hoffman is doing things and when Hoffman’s wife says it’s 6:00 in the morning, who are you talking to.  Hoffman responds just saving civilization.   There would be other scenes like this where Hoffman was getting his kids ready for school or going to soccer practice with the kids while Ferris was yelling at him.  

              Adding to this is a doctor that Ferris is interested in named Aisha.  Ferris does not realize that there are other people watching him when he is seen with Aisha having lunch.   You can tell that Ferris was getting really angry at Hoffman when he knocked him off his chair after Hoffman said I saw you with that Poo Tang.  

               There were some great action scenes in the movie.  The lies and manipulation led to a surprise ending where you never know who would be trusted to help Ferris.  I would give this movie 4 stars. 


Ron Hummer 

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