The surveillance POV is so stable, it's hard to believe it originates from a fast-moving high-altitude spy plane. The other wonderment is aerial surveillance so precise it can see a particular man walking down a street. Wearing one of those ear-mounted devices, he seems to keep up a running conversation with his boss, even during perilous situations (his boss is often distracted by taking care of his kids). One is the ability of Ferris to maintain instant, effortless, cell phone contact with Hoffman, back in Washington. The movie depends on two electronic wonderments. And it leads to a situation where his own life is saved by the last-second arrival of the cavalry. That Ferris survives this man's fate is highly unlikely. He feels one local comrade has been abandoned to face a certain death, and after he sets up an innocent architect to unwittingly play the head of the fictitious terrorist agency, he single-handedly tries to save his life from an inevitable attack. The most intriguing aspect of Ferris' activities is his growing disillusionment with them. Here we have a spy who doesn't come in from the cold, crossed with Jason Bourne. But Le Carre would never be guilty of such preposterous thriller-style action. Some of the characters seem worthy of Le Carre, especially Hoffman ( Russell Crowe), Ferris' CIA handler, and Hani Salaam ( Mark Strong), the brilliant and urbane head of Jordanian security. I can imagine a similar story as told by John Le Carre, even right down to the local beauty. Why will Al Saleem risk everything to come out of hiding? Jealousy, I think. His brainstorm is to fabricate a rival terrorist organization out of thin air, fabricate a fictitious leader, create a convincing evidence trail and use it to smoke out Al Saleem, the secretive leader of the real terrorists (a surrogate for Osama bin Laden). This is Roger Ferris ( Leonardo DiCaprio), who seems to operate as a self-directed freelance in the war against a deadly terrorist organization (obviously a double for al-Qaeda).

Body of lies movie whipping