MovieChat Forums > Body of Lies (2008) Discussion > Why Does This Movie Get No Respect?

Why Does This Movie Get No Respect?

posted 14 years ago by mike3386
42 replies | jump to latest

I'm confused.

Crowe and deCaprio are at the peak or their acting, the supporting cast is perfect, the plot appeals to both men and women, Ridley Scott always delivers on intensity, and the premise couldn't be more timely in the world we live in.

From ticket sales alone, the movie was a box office flop . . . and even the TV movie channels which tend to run movies like this ad nauseum seem to have filed it in the back of the office.

diCaprio develops his character, much like he did with his character in "Blood Diamond", yet everyone keeps nitpicking his performance. What am I missing?

Maybe I don't know anything about movies even after 55 years of addicted viewing. Heck, I even thought "10th and Wolf" was fantastic.

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[–] Robbmonster 14 years ago

I watched the movie for the first time last night, and I didn't like it much.

I'll try to sum up a few of the reasons why...

1 - I didn't care about any of the characters. There was no one who was overly likeable, and were it not for the rather strained love interest for DiCaprio's character, his character would have had even less room to develop.

2 - I had trouble even catching the name of DiCaprio's character, or any of the others, for that matter.

3 - Too many phone conversations. Yes, I understand that part of the point was that Crowe was trying to assess and make decisions about a conflict he was half a world away from, but as a general rule of movie-making, phone calls are to be avoided where possible.

4 - As I touched on earlier, the love interest was rather strained and VERY convenient.

5 - I found the whole 'setting up the fake terrorist' plotline to be rather implausible.

In all, I just found it to be a rather routine spy thriller with no likeable characters, and a few too many leaps of faith as far as the plot was concerned.

On the plus side, the performances top to bottom were very good (not to confuse the performances with the characters), and Scott's direction was the virtuosity we expect from him. I also found the dialog to be very crisp and affective.

Just my take on it :-)

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[–] pa631 14 years ago

I have to agree with you... mostly...
the acting was above average (Growe playes the dispicable bastard VERY well!), but the story of a front-line CIA agent who is CONSTANTLY on the phone to his boss in Langley while getting blown up every 5 minutes and then falls in love with a simple local nurse is truely pathetic.
Then, disillusioned with Western Democracy he dumps everything, including a well-paid, risk-free job in the CIA and decides to live happily ever-after in deepest, darkest Jordan (I think it was Jordan?!), with the (new) love of his life.
Very tired.....
Only gave it a 3/10 because of the acting and the intensity.

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[–] Prismark10 14 years ago

As a genre film of that type, although well acted and well paced it came across as rather predictable.

Its that man again!!

[–] aricana 13 years ago

PLEASE note in the headline, when your contribution contains spoilers!!

[–] SuperWittySmitty 9 years ago

Nonsense. You don't start reading the message boards of IMDb if you're trying to avoid plot points and spoilers. Watch the movie; then come here.

[–] cyguration 10 years ago

disillusioned with Western Democracy he dumps everything, including a well-paid, risk-free job in the CIA and decides to live happily ever-after in deepest, darkest Jordan

He was tired of the BS. I can understand this. If you haven't put up with enough BS in life then it's easy to think that the "easy way out" is the better way. Sometimes what's best isn't what's easy but what's more convenient. And what looks "risk-free" to you may not have the same values as someone who wants what's convenient for them.

In his line of work he was tired of bureaucracy, lies and more lies. The movie gave the impression he just wanted to take some time away from the BS. Heck, he even says as much in one of the phone conversations with Crowe.

[–] The LA Baker (971) 8 years ago

3/10?
This is why I hate these ambiguous rating systems. This film is easily a 7/10(average). I'd say 7.5(a solid C). I will only rate below 6/10 if a film is terrible. 5/10 is a fail. This film was competently made, but ultimately lackluster. Basically it was just OK.

[–] holligolightly 14 years ago

I would have to agree %100 here. I watched it twice just in case I missed something... then jumped on this board to see if I could more info... and I still care for it none.

[–] nutsberryfarm 14 years ago

maximus always being on the phone would make me say 'noooooooooooooo' if he asked 'are you not entertained?!' but he didn't.

Golf clap? Golf clap.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] VaticanAssassinWarlock 10 years ago

The characters aren't supposed to be likeable, it's a political thriller about morally reprehensible characters betraying and murdering each other. Russell Crowe is the epitome of American avarice and arrogance, DiCaprio is his young protégé whether he wants to admit it or not. The film has something of a 1970's feel to it (I could imagine a young Jack Nicholson playing the lead, the film reminded me a little of Antonioni's The Passenger), a time when characters didn't have to be wholesome or overtly cool in order to capture an audience's interest. In regards to the use of the telephone, the role of technology is absolutely vital to this movie, it's the whole point of the damned picture and his use of it is all done expertly. I particularly like the scene of the explosion which pans further and further back until it becomes a CCTV camera which then becomes a television screen and the image becomes a news story which continues in the background scenes of both Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Strong's spatially disconnected characters. The globalized interconnected world is perfectly demonstrated in this film and it is done masterfully by Ridley Scott's style and direction.

Ten Things you didn't Know about Batman Begins
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Boardwalk Empire Review (no spoilers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWNdJTU8Bos

[–] scyza 14 years ago

I'm not sure really why the movie was a flop, however speaking for myself - the only character I really found myself interested in was Hani and his relationship to Ferris.

The whole lovestory did not interest me at all - actually it seemed to me like it was only included because well, every good american movie needs a love story in it..? To me it would have made a lot more sense to keep it a "men's movie" and leave the implausible lovestory out of it completely.

I'm surprised to hear that the lovestory was a major part in the novel!

It wasn't a bad movie overall and DiCaprio was as good as always, but still it's not very memorable somehow, I didn't care about most of the characters and the plot was kind of hard to follow... I don't mean it was hard to understand or too complex, it just didn't manage to keep me all that interested.

[–] wcpom 14 years ago

I have just watched this film on Go Channel in Australia and really enjoyed it. I must have missed the promotion for it when it was released and it must have been released here, as two of Australia's favourite sons in the acting game were featured, Russell Crowe and Vince Colisomo.

I enjoyed Russell Crowes performance as the hard headed CIA boss and DiCaprio as the man on the spot, almost gone native. But the man who really made the film for me was Mark Strong. He's an Englishman of Italian descent, but played a very convincing Jordanian. I found myself smiling everytime he came on camera, you just knew he was the man with all the answers.

I've seen Mark Strong in caper films before and this seemd to be one too, as well as a spy film, a thriller, action movie and romance too. I would recomend it. I could not tell you about how much respect the film gets elsewhere, but there is a definite pocket of respect here.

http://www.oztvreviews.com/

[–] shaundee 13 years ago

Robbmonster summed it up pretty well.

Mark Strong was a f'ing BOSS though and worth watching for him.

[–] Omar-X 13 years ago

i don't know but i loved the flick and gave an 8

[–] Toby_gibson002 13 years ago

I liked it like I liked Spy Game- as a genre film. It also was a pretty great piece of propaganda on both sides.

[–] slayerjmk95 13 years ago

Because people don't know a damn good movie if it bit them in the ass; you can see that by the massive box office hits such as the entire Twilight film series, the worst series of all time (Movies, not the books, because the books were decent).

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[–] debniak 12 years ago

I agree 100% !! I'm a film buff from way back and really enjoyed this movie. It wasn't the silly vampire tripe or other ridiculous crap that passes for entertainment these days.