Ridley Scott is a brilliant director who has a tendency to stumble every once in a while. He’s made impressive, consequential works like Alien, Gladiator and Blade Runner. He’s also responsible for G.I. Jane, Hannibal, Kingdom of Heaven and Black Rain. When he makes a film he goes all out. Sometimes he finds his groove sometimes he doesn’t. When he misses his efforts aren’t abysmal, they’re still loaded with carefully crafted scenes and some good performances. The pieces as a whole are flat and in this case lethargic as if his message isn’t able to get through coherently. Even his most awkward efforts are still better than most films out there.

This particular production fails to give a reason for its being. It happens, we watch and nothing is learned or gained. It’s well organized but ultimately static. The story about isolated CIA agent, Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio), who operates out of Jordan and who is under the whims of his stateside handler Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), is typically cynical and convoluted. The plot unrolls in the expected fashion of a war on terror flick with the conventional relativist conclusions and sneering account of American motives. The problem with moral equivalence and not picking a side is that you end up having no point of view to express. A plague on both your houses argument may seem like a reasonable reaction to modern international politics but in a narrative such as this it is hard to posit without becoming muddled.

The film would have been better with clearer lines drawn. For those who would argue that is not how the real world operates, here’s a clue, this is a movie not the real world. To tell a story you need to make concessions to get a useful point across. I’m looking forward to Scott’s next film, he tends to follow up his fumbles with touchdowns.


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Labels: film, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Strong, movie review, Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe, terrorism