"Body of Lies"

I had expected something more "guy" oriented - with lots of tough guys and action, and it had those things, but in addition, it's super intelligent (how can you not like a movie that starts with lines from a poem by W.H. Auden*?) and I thought it was perfectly cast. I thought Leonardo Dicaprio gave another bravura performance. Sort of cross between his characters in The Departed (though he's less twitchy and strung out here), and Blood Diamond (though he's less arrogant and less cynical too). I think the movie combines the best elements of previous films on this topic - for example, it's less Hollywoody than The Kingdom, less deliberately confusing than Syriana, more satisfying than Traitor. Turns out it's based on a novel by Washington Post reporter David Ignatius, which would explain why it's so smart. And directed by Ridley Scott, who can generally be depended on to make a very watchable movie. It's a tiny bit long and the violence is very realistic (not a problem for some, but I covered my eyes more than once), but overall, it's really worth seeing.

*Here's the Auden quote: ""I and the public know what all school children learn: Those to whom evil is done do evil in return."

I read this about it: It's a line from his poem September 1, 1939, written in response to the outbreak of the Second World War, and often quoted since the September attack of 62 years later.