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Body of Lies Our rating: Your rating:   MPAA rating: R (for strong violence including some torture, and for language throughout) Genre: Action, Thriller Theater release: October 10, 2008 by Warner Bros. Directed by: Ridley Scott Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (Roger Ferris), Russell Crowe (Ed Hoffman), Mark Strong (Hani Salaam), Golshifteh Farahani (Aisha), Oscar Isaac (Bassam), Alon Aboutboul (Al-Saleem), Simon McBurney (Garland), Vince Colosimo (Skip), Ali Suliman (Omar Sadiki) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Sir Ridley Scott is not only one of the world's most popular filmmakers—he's also a visionary. Best known for directing Alien and Blade Runner, two of the most influential sci-fi films ever made, he also delivered such classics as Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down, and Gladiator. Sumptuous cinematography and strong performances distinguish his grand epics about power, corruption, and conscience.

Ridley's brother Tony is known for flashy commercial thrillers and action pics—solid genre movies like Déjà Vu, Man on Fire, Spy Games, Enemy of the State, and Top Gun. He's more of a stylist than a storyteller. If you see helicopters, explosions, and a lot of high-tech gadgetry, chances are you're watching Tony's work.

On first glance, Body of Lies looks like a Tony Scott film, with its the super-slick style, ubiquitous cutting-edge technology, and spy-game conventions. But it's actually the bigger brother at the controls. And in this contemporary context, Ridley demonstrates the same delicacy in portraying culture clashes that he showed in 2006's Kingdom of Heaven.

Russell Crowe as Ed Hoffman, Leonardo DiCaprio as Roger Ferris

It feels as if half of Body of Lies is viewed through the lenses of high-tech surveillance equipment. That's because the film is divided between a C.I.A. agent in the homeland, who organizes covert operations halfway around the world via cell phone, and the crackerjack field agent he commands and monitors.

The commanding officer is Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe). Like Christof in Peter Weir's The Truman Show, Hoffman is a grand manipulator who thinks that he can "save civilization" by monitoring the Middle East through the cameras of high-flying drones and using his hands-free cell phone to order agents on the ground into action. Hoffman's ego is frightful, but his resourcefulness is impressive.

Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the moral center in this tale that explores the very grey territory of international espionage ethics. Ferris is a battle-scarred soldier who's up for any challenge, accepting wild assignments so fast you wonder if he has a taste for adventure or a death wish. Ferris uses wits, charm, speed, and smooth language skills (he's one of those few American agents who actually speaks Arabic) to gain allies, challenge foes, and even flirt with a pretty Iranian woman. Played by DiCaprio with the same intensity he brought to The Departed and Blood Diamond, Ferris could almost be Frank Abagnale Jr. of Catch Me If You Can, grown up and applying his powers of adaptation for a good cause.

Hani (Mark Strong) and Roger

Ferris spends the first half of the film risking his life to gather information on the egomaniacal jihadist Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul). In doing so, he establishes a tense alliance with Hani Salaam (Mark Strong), the head of Jordanian Intelligence. Hani is a key ally for the U.S., but he has one rule: Don't lie to him, or you'll face serious consequences. This places Ferris in serious jeopardy when he decides to invent a fictitious terrorist cadre that will wound Al-Saleem's ego and lure him into a mistake.

But who is Ferris? And how did he get into this mess? DiCaprio's got the stuff to be a great action hero, and Ferris could be the focus of a great franchise—but he'd need more character development. Here's he's just an action hero, an Energizer Bunny—Jason Bourne without the identity crisis.

Ferris dominates the film. But Hoffman is a far more interesting character in spite of that unflattering crew cut that makes his head look like a thumb. He's quite the multi-tasker, shuttling his kids from school to activities while directing covert ops on his cell. He twitches like someone constantly surfing the net in his head. His wife is just a figure in the background, almost irrelevant and surely neglected

Crowe continues to impress with his capacity for transformation. Fifty pounds heavier and full of swagger, he disappears into Hoffman's character, though his mannerisms almost overwhelm the character—like whenever Hoffman tucks his chin and fires that supercilious glare over the brim of his glasses. But even though Crowe has very few chances to show onscreen chemistry with DiCaprio, he still lives up to his reputation as one of our most resourceful screen actors. It's hard to believe this is the same guy we recently saw as a lean, mean outlaw in 3:10 to Yuma.

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