Body of Lies (2008)

Warning: Spoiler ahead.

I had never liked Ridley Scott as a director, especially for the undeservedly acclaimed Gladiator (2000) - gum'on, a macho trained soldier with swords and slings in hand, lugged around by a skinny guy? How did he remain a slave! - but I must say I am impressed by Body of Lies (2008).

It's just another action thriller, you are right, but underscore action, cause there are explosions, and hardware (helicopter blowing up cars), etc. an adequate job. It was however the story telling that impressed me.

Normally I like the really complicated onion peeling kind - multiple parallel plots, flash blacks, uh ah, OMG moments, you know. This movie however is a simple serial single plot narrative with basically 3 characters only. The clever part, he was able to clamp alot of story into a 2 hour time frame - from tracking down intel in Iraq to the safe house in Amman to setting up a fake terrorist group in Dubai to going back to Amman and be taken away - the story line, the locations and the motives are all explained and easily followed. Fewer characters also meant better character development: like Ferris affinity to the middle-east, Hani's cold tactics, all very true to the individuals' situations and believable.

Overall it was a surprisingly entertaining movie that did not disappoint.