Body of Lies (2008)

Like Syriana without either the balls or the brains, Body Of Lies is perfectly presentable. You just expect better from the likes of Leo, Russ and Ridley.

But despite the immaculate production values, the satire is so unspeakably crude that it ceases to matter. A shame. Scott has been an instrumental director in the Hollywood evolution of war films. But Body of Lies is a one-note rant.

Body of Lies is big and bombastic, confused and irritable - a 20th-century blockbuster struggling to adapt (too little, too late) to a 21st-century terrain.

Scott, at heart, is a pyrotechnician rather than a political philosopher. Sometimes, during the scenes when he shows graphic acts of torture, he seems like a two-penny shock merchant, too.

With high-class acts to match the hi-tech savvy of Scott and his trusty crew (cinematographer Alexander Witt, editor Pietro Scalia, composer Mark Streitenfeld), this is as taut and engrossing a couple of hours as you’ll experience all year.

Syriana, this ain’t. Ridley Scott’s latest misses the scope, texture or depth to dig into the moral mess of the war on terror. But this entertaining techno-thriller feeds greedily off star performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Strong.

Body Of Lies lacks the epic sweep of Gladiator and the emotional pull of Thelma And Louise. But it's enormously competent, with a couple of fine supporting performances from Crowe and Strong.

If the starry but soulless crime flick American Gangster wasn’t enough to convince you Ridley Scott was a man past his prime, check out Body Of Lies – a starry but soulless terrorism movie.

For all the enthralling visuals and action, the film feels garbled.

Visually the film is so undistinguished it may be time for the maker of Blade Runner to be subjected to that film’s Voigt-Kampff test, to determine whether the current owner of the name “Ridley Scott” is real or a replicant.