Last year about this time, we were inundated with a long slate of movies involving war in the Middle East and the US military. Pardon the pun, but they all bombed. Americans just weren’t ready to see films about the tragedies they could watch on the news everyday. So what makes director Ridley Scott think Americans are any more ready for a film about Middle Eastern terrorist plots now?

He’s betting on two major factors: Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio to intrigue audiences and get them to the theater. But can even those two Hollywood behemoths sell a film about a very unpopular topic? If anyone could, they can, although it’s hard to forget that you’re seeing two of the greatest actors of our time up there on the screen together. I didn’t see either one of them disappearing into their characters, which is more fame’s fault than their own.

DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a high-ranking CIA operative sent to Jordan to track a particularly wiley terrorist. Crowe is Ed Hoffman, his superior, who calling the shots from back home while watching Roger’s every move on spy satellites. The technology and accuracy of what they can see from the air really is amazing, and apparently, that technology actually exists. The film speeds like a bullet straight through from start to finish, and while it’s a fairly complicated plot, Scott has directed it in such a way that you follow and understand all the action, and never become lost. Although you do have to stay on your toes, you won’t be scratching your head and wondering what’s going on, who was that and where did he come from, as is common with so many rapid fire, intrigue action films. There are a few plot points that are unworthy of such a sophisticated movie, like the Jordanian girl who captures Roger’s interest—just by knowing she exists you have a pretty good idea of her role in the story.

The film was based on a 2007 novel of the same name by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Body of Lies is as good as possible considering it covers a topic no one wants to watch.

Rated R.  

-- Lisa Johnson Mandell