Matchstick Men (Body of Lies)

Ridley Scott's Body of Lies is a vast improvement on the mediocre trifecta of Kingdom of Heaven, A Good Year and American Gangster and a worthwhile addition to the recent crop of films filtering a real interest in America's role in the Middle-East through the Hollywood lens. It's an intelligently written thriller (merci The Departed's William Monahan) about a lone CIA operative in the Middle-East (Leonardo di Caprio) getting into all kinds of trouble under the watchful but detached eye of his handler back in Wahington (Russell Crowe).

Leonardo di Caprio is strangely convincing as Roger Ferris, the Arabic-speaking, culturally savvy American agent who's good at what he does, even when that includes shooting people in the head. He manages to make his dubious character likable despite the absence of a motivational back story. The actor has clearly put behind him the babyfaced persona of Titanic (or even The Aviator). On the strength of three recent performances - in The Departed, Blood Diamond and now Body of Lies - di Caprio is growing splendidly into the kind of leading men for which Hollywood's best roles are written.

He is backed by an array of excellent supporting players. Russell Crowe is suitably detestable, for example, as the smug beaurocrat who pulls the strings from Washington. Australian Vince Colosimo makes an impression as Ferris's right-hand man and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani injects charm and gravitas into her underwritten role as the nurse he falls for. But it's British actor Mark Strong who shines the brightest, transforming the Jordanian head of intel into a mesmerizing Saville Row-clad sophisticate able to dazzle you with a smile and murder you with a look. He is a revelation.

Body of Lies tries hard to be an action blockbuster but also reveals itself to be a politically-aware take on America's so-called War on Terror. Its structure is episodic and the material might've lent itself better to the mini-series format. To the writer's credit though, the message is delivered in layers, each chapter of the spy caper adding a stratum of complexity to the issues at hand. Not shying away from moral relativism or let's-not-kid-ourselves cynicism, it ends with some well-placed harsh words about the Bush doctrine and American geo-political arrogance (or is that ignorance?). It's nothing new, but at least it's not entirely ideologically unsound.

Body of Lies wouldn't earn its blockbuster credentials without a bit of pandering to current action trends: omniscient surveillance footage, seizure-inducing editing and ethically-challenged heroes. There are as many explosions, international flights and acrobatic chases as in any Bond film, and an unlikely romance is even thrown in for good measure (which, thankfully, ends up being integral to the plot). But the trappings of Hollywood-style storytelling are mostly a means to an end: Ridley Scott stays on message and delivers a relatively satisfying pay-off.

Is it good for Hollywood to tackle complex political issues while attempting to deliver blockbuster thrills? Or should we leave that to those who don't stand to profit financially (any of those left?) from our desire for an accessible, easily digestible world view? Terror porn or constructive vulgarization, the recent crop of intelligent thrillers (which started with Syriana) may not always get it right, but at least the aims are higher than usual.