Body of Lies II

Chief Warrant officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) finds himself stonewalled when repeated missions to unearth weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in post-war Baghdad draw a blank, in the Green Zone. An impassionate representation to that effect to his superiors falls on deaf ears – well, almost. CIA officer Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) lets Roy know that his hunch (about WMDs or the absence of them) is right, and a related tip-off by an Iraqi national leads Roy to the formidable Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor) of the Republican Guards. Fast-paced chases ensue – the murky truth behind the very core of why America went to war against Iraq is unearthed. Loosely based on true events, Matt Damon again pulls off an anchor role with effortless panache. The movie continues a series of takes on the dubious warmongering by America in Iraq/ Middle East on the lines of The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs, and others – and could perhaps have been titled Body of Lies were there not another movie of the same name on the same subject. The stirring honesty in America’s immediacy in soul-searching on the war in Iraq is a well explored theme now – which does not take away from sterling performances and a fast paced action thriller. Eminently watchable

14/20