Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Body of Lies
2008
**½
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani, Vince Colosimo, Oscar Isaac, Ali Suliman, Alon Aboutboul

Roger Ferris is a CIA field agent in Middle East who attempts to track down a wanted terrorist. As if operating in a fragile web of lies is not risky enough, his own boss in Langley keeps undermining him at every turn. The manhunt begins to take its toll on Ferris, especially when he witnesses the human price of his actions. Ridley Scott's spy thriller offers such a familiar mix of thought-provoking politics, entertaining action and implausible romance that it could have been credited to Edward Zwick. William Monahan's script is based on the novel by David Ignatius. In theory, it provides an interesting view to real-life intelligence work in the War on Terror. In practice, however, this is a long, workmanlike film which doesn't exactly set my pulse racing.