Same Old

I love Netflix; I am a movie addict! That is why I always keep myself up-to-date by consistently renting movies through Netflix, which by the way, is the greatest invention ever.

The last set of movies I rented included Body of Lies, which stars Russel Crowe and Leonardo Dicaprio.

Don't get me wrong, the movie was good. I was entertained for the 2.5 hours I was watching it, however, the plot was easily predicted and the story line was worn out. I have heard this story a million times, when are they going to come up with something new?

The story is as follows, Leo is an undercover CIA Agent stationed in Iraq and gets relocated throughout the Middle East, mainly Amman, Jordan. When Leo ends up in Amman, he meets with Hani, who is head of intelligence in Jordan. Together, they attempt to come together and catch some high up Al-Qaeda guy, whose name escapes me but is something along the lines of Al-Saleem, or what not. How unique.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Leo falls in love with an Iranian Jordanian (err...?), whose character is not well-developed and is instead kinda just "tossed in" for the hell of creating a love interest. Leo also attempts to save his love interest from Al-Qaeda, who are planning on filming her decapitation...and probably posting it on YouTube. Leo's boss in the CIA back in Langley, Virginia turns out to be an arragont ass hole, and the Hani doesn't trust the whole lot of them because they are all Americans who don't understand how to handle situations in the Middle East. Sooooooooo......Leo gets kidnapped, then saved, his girl gets saved, he quits the CIA, and attempts to live out his days in Jordan. Nice.

So, what is my problem with the movie? It's the same old story line. The Muslim (Arab), fanatical, old guy, heads some terrorist organization. Then, he films himself talking about how he hates the west. Then, there are a bunch of other young Arab guys blowing themselves up to go to paradise. Then, there's the savvy American CIA guy who speaks Arabic fluently and attempts to sympathize with the Arabs. Then there's the terrorist crew that enjoys cutting peoples fingers off, reciting the Koran, and videotaping everything. Then, of course, the terrorist group is caught, the old fanatical Muslim who prays 5 times a day is arrested, and all is well.

However, there are two new elements to this story. There's the powerful, rich, well connected Jordanian Intelligence guy and...there's the Iranian Jordanian woman (I'm still confused about this one), who the savvy American CIA guy is quickly falling for, who by the way, is also the nurse who gives him his shots once a week for rabies.

TO BE CONTINUED...