Body Of Lies

Aroview: Double-crossing political thriller starring DiCaprio as a street-savvy US intelligence operative at the beck and (phone)call of a CIA veteran (Crowe) who orders him to infiltrate a lethal Jordanian terrorist cell.

Stirring up multi-national intrigue SYRIANA-style, Ridley Scott scores a blow against bureaucratic mishandling of terror raids, but struggles to synergise the potentially riveting strands of puppetmastery and surveillance paranoia, repeatedly falling back on a host of typically stylish yet largely unspectacular set-pieces. Dicaprio, in rough-and-tumble BLOOD DIAMOND mode, and a stocky, sinister Crowe make decent fist of underdeveloped roles, but it's suave Jordanian intelligence chief Strong who registers as the most compelling figure in a cosmetic, contrived yet watchable two hours. Based on the novel by David Ignatius.

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