Body of Lies

Body of Lies is a Ridley Scott take on the David Igatius novel of the same name. Unlike the ridiculous Jason Bourne action hero series which purported to be realistic, this tale of deceit and betrayal had a more realistic premise, being intricately plotted with multiple layers and each faction using each other for their own ends. As the plot unfolded, assembling into a body of lies, one wonders as to the aims of American foreign policy, the aims of the CIA as opposed to American foreign policy, the aims of the foreign policy of each Arab state and their respective intelligence services and finally the conflicting objectives.

 The film also reflected an American reliance on signal or electronic intelligence (SIGINT or ELINT) while the Arabian intelligence relied on human intelligence (HUMINT). 

In Body of Lies, the terrorist organisation moved to maintain contacts via face to face meetings, American UAVs and signal captures became less effective.

Crowe and DiCaprio both gave riveting and convincing performances with Crowe being adapt at portraying the usual loud, cocksure and ugly American that one sees often. Mark Strong's portrayal of the head of the Jordanian intelligence

Weapons spotted in the film included a Skorpion, Heckler & Koch G36 (short-barrelled version) wielded by DiCaprio, a Heckler & Koch bipod sniper weapon, an Accuracy International sniper rifle (I think), the usual AK-47/AKMs, pistols and machine guns. 

AFVs spotted included an AMX-10RC and a Renault VAB at the 'Syrian' border. I wonder as to the location which this film was made. Helicopter? The Eurocopter Dauphin?

Reviews throughout are mixed, but, it is far superior to the overrated and hyped Jason Bourne trilogy, I recommend this. 7/10