Body of Lies (2008)

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers (WGA):

William Monahan (screenplay)
David Ignatius (novel)

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Trust no one. Deceive everyone.

Plot:

Roger Ferris uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan.

Plot Keywords:

Jordan | Terrorist | Architect | CIA | Cell Phone

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Dec. 29	4:10 AM	HBO
Fri. Jan. 1	8:00 PM	HBO

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Roger Ferris
Russell Crowe	...	Ed Hoffman
Mark Strong	...	Hani Salaam
Golshifteh Farahani	...	Aisha
Oscar Isaac	...	Bassam
Ali Suliman	...	Omar Sadiki
Alon Abutbul	...	Al-Saleem (as Alon Aboutboul)
Vince Colosimo	...	Skip
Simon McBurney	...	Garland
Mehdi Nebbou	...	Nizar
Michael Gaston	...	Holiday
Kais Nashif	...	Mustafa Karami
Jamil Khoury	...	Marwan (as Jameel Khoury)
Lubna Azabal	...	Aisha's sister Cala
Ghali Benlafkih	...	Aisha's Nephew Rowley

Also Known As:

Chatter (USA) (working title)
House of Lies (USA) (working title)
Penetration (USA) (working title)
Red de mentiras (Argentina) (Mexico) (Peru) (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
Der Mann, der niemals lebte (Germany) [de]
I plektani (Greece) [el]
Labyrint lzí (Czech Republic) [cs]
Mensonges d'état (France) [fr]
Nessuna verità (Italy) [it]
O Corpo da Mentira (Portugal) [pt]
Pavucina izí (Slovakia) [sk]
Rede de Mentiras (Brazil) [pt]
Tijelo od lazi (Croatia) [hr]
Une vie de mensonges (Canada: French title) [fr]
Valede rägastik (Estonia) [et]
Valheiden verkko (Finland) [fi]
W sieci klamstw (Poland) (poster title) [pl]
Wârudo obu raizu (Japan) [ja]
World of Lies (Japan: English title) [en]
Yalanlar üstüne (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence including some torture, and for language throughout.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44537) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Ontario) | UK:15 | Netherlands:16 | South Africa:16LV | Canada:18A (British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Australia:MA | Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:R16 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Japan:PG-12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Argentina:16 | Brazil:16 | India:A | Sweden:15 | Malaysia:18SG | Peru:14 | Norway:15 | Taiwan:R-12

Filming Locations:

Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

A visual sequence meant to illustrate cross-cultural suspicion by showing German police and Turkish migrant-workers eying each other darkly at a Munich street corner's outdoor tea café was cut. A short clip of the sequence survives, but as a sort of Islamic "anytown", without the German-language street sign or the Munich police car. It appears as an aside In Scene 2 while Hoffman briefs headquarters staff about "men from the future", Americans, being easy to defeat when terrorists use face-to-face meetings and hand-written notes in place of easily-traceable electronic technology.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the kidnapping scene of Omar Sadiki all the cars license plates say Saudi Arabia in Arabic, but they say Jordan.

Quotes:

Nizar: I have a PHD and they want me to blow myself up!
Roger Ferris: PHD in what? Chemistry? What do you know about radiological...
Nizar: Linguistics! I speak 5 languages. Nobody should say martyr to me. Nobody!
Roger Ferris: You are a rare and delicate flower!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "De wereld draait door: (#4.34)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Shta

At the age of 70 Ridley Scott is still making Greats.

One of the Greatest Directors of All time has picked a touchy subject for his newest film. Did Rid pull it off?

Body of Lies is a smart political thriller on the state of some of the world's debacles,

Some of the high points of the film were the action sequences which were very similar to the style of action sequences of "Black Hawk Down". The acting was also great. Personally i liked Crowe's performance more as a CIA head he was very dedicated to the role and put on 66pounds for it, he also had the Virginian accent down. But I thought that Leinardo DiCaprio was very similar to his role in the departed. (Watch when he is talking on the phone you will see what I mean) The cinematography was Grade A also.

But the thing that impressed me most was the way Ridley Built up the story and tension not knowing who to trust, (obviously one of the themes of the movie) this brought me back to the days of "Alien" with the slow building atlosphere which made "Alien" one of the most respected films of all time. It was also a balanced look at the Iraq situation as it wasn't following the Anti-America trend but it also wasn't trying to justify the war. It also will leave you thinking about the current events long after the credits have ended.

All in All through great shots, Acting and Direction make "Body Of Lies" a hit and can be put on Ridley Scotts list of Greats on his CV.