The politics might be dodgy – well, until the final reel – but Body Of Lies really makes you think that right-wingers get to have all the fun. Put together every action sequence from such woolly liberal axis of evil flicks as Lions For Lambs, Rendition, The Kindgom, Syriana and Stop-Loss and you still wouldn’t have enough octane to fuel the first four minutes of Ridley Scott’s post 9/11 thriller.
In an unlikely looking overture – when did Sir Ridley last visit home? – an Islamic terrorist blows himself and an entire Manchester neighbourhood off the face of the earth. The CIA decide this can only be the dastardly work of bin Laden esatz Al-Saleem and their Man In the Middle East (Leonardo DiCaprio) is swiftly dispatched to track him down while the hawkish Russell Crowe barks orders down the line from Washington.
Cue lots of running around and the usual super-spy super-information highway shenanigans. Sadly, though the finished product is a far, far better chase film than Quantum Of Solace, it has nothing else to show but the backs of well paid actors’ heels.