Body of Lies

Body of Lies: Political thriller or description of Ridley Scott's career?

Every now and then the cinematic gods shine down on a movie and align the social and/or political cosmos to coincide with a film's release, either theatrically or for home entertainment, thus making it presciently relevant for audiences. The China Syndrome (Three Mile Island) leaps to mind as a benefiter of this phenomenon. As does Milk (California Prop 8) and of course, Triumph of the Will (Hitler's ascendance to power - who was that actor?!).
I mention fascism only to warn that we will be discussing a Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe movie.
What the fuck happened to Ridley Scott anyway?
The man, who from 1977 to 1982 gave us a hat trick of genius with The Duellists, Alien and Bladerunner, began a twenty-seven-year directorial backslide that has included such monstrosities as Legend, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, G.I. Jane and the execrable Kingdom of Heaven.
Only Matchstick Men and snippets of Black Hawk Down, Gladiator and American Gangster have been remotely viewable.
So inexplicable, so drastic has been Scott’s tumble from cinematic promise that one wonders if he accidentally sipped from Michael Bay’s juice cup and caught some form of aesthetic leprosy.
I fear that Body of Lies, Scott’s third go around with Crowe, does little to alleviate the ulcerations and tubercular nodules afflicting his career.
But we mentioned fortuitous release dates earlier and Body of Lies certainly benefits from that. Here is a CIA/terrorism thriller coming out on DVD at the same time the torture debate is heating up with regard to the OLC memos and the SASC report.
Unfortunately, the film discards attempts at socio-political relevance and forges headlong into standard thriller/action clichés.
Crowe plays the brash, bellicose head of CIA operations in the Middle East. Leonardo DiCaprio is his “go to” operative in the field. Their relationship is that particular one of mentor/student where the mentor has strayed from his former integrity into a harsh cynicism and practicality while the student (taking all the actual lumps from the frontline) continually rebukes him for losing sight of his humanity. They also both speak with southern accents that strangely drift in and out from scene to scene.
And when did DiCaprio decide so blatantly to affect a young Jack Nicholson’s mannerisms and speech? I caught him channeling George Hanson from Easy Rider more than a few times.
Throw in a couple of street chases, car chases, helicopter chases, a tepid interracial love story and a few “race the clock/nick of time” scenarios (including the dreaded computer file download!) and you get the cardboard action cutout of what could have been an engaging and pertinent political thriller.
There is a particularly telling moment after the death of one of their informants. DiCaprio scolds Crowe for the expendable way they treated the man.
"Nobody's innocent in this shit", Crowe insists.
Yeah, well, certainly not Ridley Scott, anyway.