Body of Lies

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

I contemplated putting this in the "way off-topic" forum, but it really isn't all that off-topic.

 

I just saw the movie today, and have to disrespectfully disagree with the critics bashing it.

 

But, on to the quasi AP-related discussion, I often found myself thinking "this is what spy stories ought to be." The movie is reluctant to spell things out, with a lot of subtext and false (or not false?) plot hooks sprinkled throughout. When it *does* spell things out, the character doing it always has a personal angle that they're working. Obviously, the movie pulls no punches on morality either, being fairly unsympathetic towards all characters rather than giving them all *really* compelling motives. The movie also *isn't* about one mastermind behind it all or one character consistently outsmarting everybody. If anything, it's Ridley trying to outsmart the audience, and I'm okay with that. In sporting fashion, you'll always get a hint of what's really going on, but it's obscured among other hints to throw you off (hence the title).

 

If I had to level criticism (and I do), the action sequences were very frontloaded in the film, making the end a little anticlimactic. I suppose that could be written off as verisimilitude, if you're into long words. What is there action-wise is pretty well done, with the CQC sequence getting special mention (hah! Like you'd expect anything else from me). I also felt that the movie lingered on less important or easily-understood shots and had a tendency of speeding past the significant stuff. The end effect was that I simultaneously felt like the movie was long-winded while wishing for more of it. All in all though, a very solid offering with a vivid and entertaining delivery of a message many people might not want to hear.

 

Or, maybe I'm a Ridley Scott fanboy.