| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A+ |
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Thriller for sophisticated viewers not teenagers
by Meron S (movies profile)
Oct 14, 2008
9
of
10 people found this review helpful
Body of Lies is an adult thriller with such a convoluted storyline that even a brief trip to the restroom results in key plot points being lost. It both demands and rewards thought. It involves current events and has a political viewpoint, but it overplays neither. It isn't going to find much favor among the teenage crowd but it is a motion picture that older, more sophisticated viewers hunger for. It is consistently well paced and it exhibits more of what we expect from a thriller: tension and suspense. There's nothing suave or dignified in the ways these characters interact, and the characters in this film seem like real people – not like James Bond. It is not exist only in the realm of fiction; it's possible that things like those depicted in Body of Lies are happening now in the real world. And probably that’s why a distressful scene has been introduced late in the movie. Everything is well balanced and for that just one scene of levity and a little light romance have been added.
None of the recent movies which focused on the current unstable geopolitical situation have done it as effectively as Body of Lies and almost none are as free of preaching.
I am not going to talk about what are ideas behind the movie and if those are right or wrong or why a half Iranian nurse has been introduced as a lover into the movie. I am not going to highlights mistakes, like the accent of the nurse. Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) can tell that a nurse working in Amman is from Iran (and she says she is half-Iranian) based on her accent. Actually, Iranians are speaking Persian which a completely different language than Arabic – it is closer to English than Arabic from the linguistic point of view. But this half-Iranian nurse, who has grown up in Amman and speaks Arabic at home with her sister and Nephews couldn’t have accent as a man with Persian mother tongue can have when speaking Arabic.
Although Leonardo DiCaprio gives strong performance, I don't think he will be nominated for Oscar as a result of his work here, as he is not inline with what Academy is looking for, this will be same as what happened to him for Blood Diamond and The Departed.
For those who love a thriller more than pointless car chases and over-edited fight sequences, Body of Lies offers a satisfying dose of mind stimulation and truth, where the viewer is not always two steps ahead of the characters. |
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