Body of Lies

The web of deceit in this taut political thriller tangles more than the CIA agent played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Everyone in the movie, all the way down to DiCaprio’s seemingly throwaway love interest, is keeping secrets. All the double-crosses, lies and cagey spy stuff ultimately boil down to: Who’s screwing whom? DiCaprio’s Roger Ferris is a post-9/11 operative hopping from one Middle East battleground to another in search of bad guys with bombs. He’s moved around by his boss (a frumpy Russell Crowe), who’s thousands of miles away back home in the U.S., calling the shots on his cell phone as he drops off his kids at school. They try to weed out an Osama bin Laden-like terrorist leader by making deals, creating a fake terrorist group and engaging in some good ole’-fashioned shoot-outs. Director Ridley Scott stages the action scenes with the same explosive zip he brought to Gladiator, Blade Runner and Alien, while the top-notch cast (especially Mark Strong as the head of Jordanian intelligence) adeptly propels the story -- which thankfully isn’t as convoluted as it could be, considering all the double-dealings going on. Despite a soggy ending that sorta goes against the film’s main theme -- trust no one – Body of Lies is all about faith in a field that’s fatally short on it. HHH