The Stranger

If one allows that a spy-action movie doesn't necessarily have to deliver a new political or cultural critique to do its most basic job, then Body of Lies can be a satisfying, gratifying distraction. Leonardo DiCaprio is certainly good enough as a culturally sensitive and heart-strong CIA agent to hold the audience's attention. And Russell Crowe, who plays his boss at Langley, makes for a champion schlump and a winningly ugly American. The plot will probably give déjà vu to certain movie junkies. There's this brilliant and fearsome CIA agent, see, and then there's a terrorist that said CIA agent's boss wants to catch, and then there's a safe house in Iraq that needs to be raided, and then one in Jordan that needs to be infiltrated, and there's also a sneaky double-crossing plot (or two) to be hatched, and a lot of desert chase scenes to be flashed on screen, and finally—well, it's hardly a spoiler to tell you that, finally, it becomes clear that the world is a complicated place resistant to quick, muscle-flexing fixes. By Eli Sanders

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