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

Why Does This Movie Get No Respect?


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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well after 20 years of solid movie watching my expertise tells me this was a great movie. you hit the nail on the head when you said that comment about the time that we live in,, I think most people don't want movies to be based on real life.. they want fiction. I like realism in my movies.. especially when you can learn a little history from them.

are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite

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Funny, I've found it semi-futuristic. It has predicted ISIL, down to their movements from and to Syria and Iraq (though failed to predict, that's it not an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, but it's competitor), predicted the primary terror focus on Europe, and then America (to isolate America from her natural allies), and it had predicted the shift in warfare from boots on the ground to primarily drones, as if they could have known, that a Democrat will take over, who will favor that method, due to the fact, that the method's manufacturers have more Democrat backing.

It failed in predicting, that terrorists go off the grid, and since it's not Syriana, it failed to take into account, that the ethanol industry leads to a price surge on the grain market, leading to both economic and social unrest globally, and becomes primary factor in the Arab Spring. In the film's defense, despite the signal intelligence for decades, not even the NSA could predict, that local youth will take to Twitter and Facebook to organize, and depose dictators. The film could not predict the shift in terror, whereas Al-Qaeda acted globally, ISIL targets civilians more locally, and for a different reason.

This topic is where we can't hide from real life, as every street, every mall or airport is crowded with soldiers trying to prevent subsequent attacks. The film lays great emphasis on the lack of cooperation between intelligence agencies, and that was before we knew they spy more on us, than the terrorists. I too would like it, that anybody spying on our Netflix queue is comedic fiction, and in real life they prevent the bad guys from making a strike, except they truly know more about us, than the ones they're supposed to follow.

I live in the Gordius Apartment Complex, my interior designer was M.C. Escher.

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Because this movie is like Adolf Hitler making a movie about how he injured his toe nail while kicking jews to death.


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[deleted]


I just watched it for the first time and I have to say it is massively underrated.


Haters gonna hate

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The reason this movie sucks is that the best scenes are in the very beginning and then it just drones on for two hours before coming to a predictable end.

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I thought it was extremely predictable and cliched and just some uninspired vehicle for diCaprio and Scott to make a patronizing throw-away movie about how much they really like the middle east, for real guys!

some ideas might have worked with a better script, likeable characters and a better lead. I'm generally a fan of diCaprio but his acting was just non-existant here. As a whole this flick seemed just cobbled together from myriads of superior spy movies from years and decades past. Scott has made some of the best movies ever made, maybe he should have quit while he was ahead.

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"a patronizing throw-away movie about how much they really like the middle east, for real guys"

I see this a lot. This film was not pro or anti anything(except deceit and murder). It was all one massive grey area just like the real world. When people view the grey world in black and white they hate anything that isn't presented in the same simplistic mentality.

I assume because it causes uncomfortable thoughts and probably some cognitive dissonance.

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[deleted]

It's definitely underrated

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It's not leftist enough

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