Body of Meh

Last week I watched Body of Lies starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. It's also directed by the great Ridley Scott.

So the directing is top notch and the acting is stellar. Top notch. As expected.

The story, however? Meh. It's not that it's a generic story about a CIA spy fighting terrorism in the Middle East that disappointed me. What I didn't like was how it played out like 4 or so consecutive stories that barely related to each other. They were short, truncated, and crammed together. I would have preferred they picked one of the given story lines and made it the main plot for the film. I think a film centered around a spy trading himself to terrorists for his kidnapped girlfriend would make a good movie, as well would a story about creating a fake terrorist organization to come into contact and ensnare a real terrorist cell. Instead, these two plots come one after another and still only make up 1/3 to 1/2 of the movie!

IMDB tells me it was adapted from a novel. That definitely shows in the way the movie plays out. It seems like there was way too much story in the book to fit into just 2 hours. But they tried it anyway.

In the end, it's certainly not a bad movie. If you're a Ridley fan or a Leo fan, then by all means, see it.


13/20 Toddsperience.