MovieChat Forums > Body of Lies (2008) Discussion > why the movie fails...

why the movie fails...

posted 15 years ago by timothy_fairchild
13 replies | jump to latest

The characters seemed two-dimensional and never make you care about them or their motivations. This movie fails to reel in the audience and make them care about a definite objective -- unlike other movies like "Witness" or "No Country for Old Men," which suck you in. The romance with the nurse seemed contrived and phony, nothing below the surface to sustain the dialogue. The movie just relied on on its surface dialogue to keep it afloat, otherwise it would have crumbled into dust as nothing solid propped it up. Crowe was unconvincing and miscast for his role too. A screenplay has to go deeper than the paper its written on to work on a real life audience.

[–] meldrone 14 years ago

"Caring about the characters" is one of those taste things. Varies A LOT from
customer to customer. I thought the obvious motivations of the two main characters here were believable and sensible. If you "cared" about them, you were reacting to Leo and Crowe.

This was a good movie with plotting flaws. Especially the feeble ending. The Leo character would never have been abandoned in hostile territory.

Main comparison of this movie: Green Zone. Body of Lies makes more sense to me.