But as someone who’s actually watched all of these films, I suspect that the biggest reason people have been staying away from them is that there just hasn’t been much there to see. It’s possible, of course, that the subject matter has made a difference. And that’s precisely what Hollywood has had to try to do with these Iraq/War On Terror films.
Body of lies movie fact of fiction movie#
And with “serious” movies, quality really matters-it’s very hard to turn a mediocre movie into a hit. In fact, as Erik Lundegaard showed in a great article for Slate this summer, “critically acclaimed films generally do better than critically panned films at the box office.” Even when it comes to big summer blockbusters, better-reviewed films-like “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man” this year-typically do better at the box office. And “Body of Lies” is no exception to this rule.Īnalyses of the Hollywood box office generally assume that audiences are basically indifferent to the quality of a film, but this is pretty much wrong. I wouldn’t completely discount the impact of the gloom factor-I saw “Body of Lies” last Saturday, after being battered by the stock-market’s weeklong decline, and as I was watching the film’s parade of violence and general chaos, there were definitely moments when I thought, “Do I really need more of this right now?” But there’s a simpler explanation than subject matter for these films’ dismal box-office performances: save for “In the Valley of Elah,” none of them was all that good. The evidence for this assertion is pretty simple: so far, every major film dealing with these subjects-“Rendition,” “Stop-Loss,” “Lions for Lambs,” “Redacted,” “In the Valley of Elah”-has done poorly at the box office. The fact that, despite starring roles for Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe and a massive television ad campaign, “Body of Lies” did not win over audiences has occasioned another round of complaints that Americans just don’t want to watch movies about serious subjects like the war in Iraq or the fight against terrorism, particularly not when real life is already so grim. “Body of Lies” failed miserably at that task last weekend, earning only $13 million compared to “Chihuahua”’s $17.5 million, and actually finishing third in the box-office race, behind the low-budget horror movie “Quarantine.”
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The film wants to be persuasive in its expertise about modern spycraft, terrorism, the CIA and Middle East politics. It’s Friday, which means that “Body of Lies,” Ridley Scott’s new thriller about the War on Terror, will get another chance to outperform “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” at the box office. If you take a step back from the realistic locations and terse dialogue, Ridley Scotts 'Body of Lies' is a James Bond plot inserted into todays headlines.