Rating: 6.7/10 Genre: Action Drama
Overall value for money and time: 6.2/10
In the recent years, there's an enormous increase in terrorist movies, or even movies of similar genres. Movies like "Rendition" and "Die Hard with a Vengence" are one of those top movies. The recent movie by the critically acclaimed director Ridley Scott's "Body of Lies" was a great disappointment for me. It lacked the build up and the plot. What it had was korny humor and subtle suggestive idealogy. In other words, the plot isn't that straightforward, much of it has to be inferred. There are pros and cons for this approach, but it wasn't enough to boost this movie up into the ranks of the tops. Although Ridley Scott is a reputable director and actors like Russell Crowe and Leonardo Dicaprio are veteran actors, this movie still felt like it lacked something crucial to its success. *Caution, spoilers ahead*. I would normally keep the plot of movies disclosed as I'm not fond of spoiling the fun for others, but I will make an exception this time because I find it only appropriate to state my reasons for thrashing this movie. "Body of Lies"has a slight hint of "The Hunting Party" in it, another flop movie that does not deserve to be screened in the threatres, about suggesting how incapable the US government is. The two movies are poking fun at the inefficiency and the reliance on technology that even the terrorist (or crime lords in "The Hunting Party") ultilizing simple methodologies are able to outsmart the most powerful country in the world. It was a direct "parody" for the latter, but Ridley Scott did it in a more subtle manner. Also, the ending suggest that Leonardo Dicaprio was recruited by the Jordianian Intelligence team but was not put across bluntly. There was a scene of the Jordianian Intel. leader standing behind a water fountain with the water directly sprouting from his *ahem* (an example of lame humor). The confrontation and the J.I.L with Leonardo at the end was many notches down with the confortation of Russell Crowe with Denzel Washington in "American Gangster". There wasn't a scene in the movie which made this movie outstanding or stand up above the rest. Even the ending torture scene where Leonardo's fingers were hammered, there was no rationale of him disclosing the idenity of the terrorist spy (how would that save him?). Unlike "Body of Lies", there is a movie that has finally excelled above the movies of such genre.... "Traitor".
Rating: 8.2/10
(Synopsis of the mentioned movies can be found at www.imdb.com)
In the recent years, there's an enormous increase in terrorist movies, or even movies of similar genres. Movies like "Rendition" and "Die Hard with a Vengence" are one of those top movies. The recent movie by the critically acclaimed director Ridley Scott's "Body of Lies" was a great disappointment for me. It lacked the build up and the plot. What it had was korny humor and subtle suggestive idealogy. In other words, the plot isn't that straightforward, much of it has to be inferred. There are pros and cons for this approach, but it wasn't enough to boost this movie up into the ranks of the tops. Although Ridley Scott is a reputable director and actors like Russell Crowe and Leonardo Dicaprio are veteran actors, this movie still felt like it lacked something crucial to its success. *Caution, spoilers ahead*. I would normally keep the plot of movies disclosed as I'm not fond of spoiling the fun for others, but I will make an exception this time because I find it only appropriate to state my reasons for thrashing this movie. "Body of Lies"has a slight hint of "The Hunting Party" in it, another flop movie that does not deserve to be screened in the threatres, about suggesting how incapable the US government is. The two movies are poking fun at the inefficiency and the reliance on technology that even the terrorist (or crime lords in "The Hunting Party") ultilizing simple methodologies are able to outsmart the most powerful country in the world. It was a direct "parody" for the latter, but Ridley Scott did it in a more subtle manner. Also, the ending suggest that Leonardo Dicaprio was recruited by the Jordianian Intelligence team but was not put across bluntly. There was a scene of the Jordianian Intel. leader standing behind a water fountain with the water directly sprouting from his *ahem* (an example of lame humor). The confrontation and the J.I.L with Leonardo at the end was many notches down with the confortation of Russell Crowe with Denzel Washington in "American Gangster". There wasn't a scene in the movie which made this movie outstanding or stand up above the rest. Even the ending torture scene where Leonardo's fingers were hammered, there was no rationale of him disclosing the idenity of the terrorist spy (how would that save him?). Unlike "Body of Lies", there is a movie that has finally excelled above the movies of such genre.... "Traitor".
Rating: 8.2/10 Genre: Action Drama
Overall value for money and time: 8.5/10
"Traitor" has a mixture of "Eastern Promises" and "Rendition" in it. It leaves you hanging about the true identity of the protagonist of the movie and there is a killer ending to it. The build up is good and will not leave you a feeling of dragginess in the movie, something which "Body of Lies" lacked. The latter movie almost felt like a 3hr movie when in fact it only slightly exceeded 2 hours. "Traitor" on the other hand is a movie you cant get enough of. However, "Traitor" lacked the smoothness of the storyline. The start and middle was good, but the ending felt a little abrupt. *More Spoilers ahead* There wasn't a good flow between the male protagonist and how he was able to convince the dectective hard on his back that he was on their side, and of course there wasn't any closure for the dispute between him and his wife. Apart from these countable weak points, everything about the movie was applaudable. If I had 1 word to sum up both movies, "Body of Lies" would be "Yawn", while "Traitor" would be "Impressive".(Synopsis of the mentioned movies can be found at www.imdb.com)
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