Outings and Movie

Went out with Fuli and David to town for a get together session after the exams and played some pool at Park Lane.

Met up with my coursemates next who had just completed all their exam papers and watched Body Of Lies at The Cathay.

Body of Lies is about a CIA agent in Middle East, doing local field work extracting valuable information to tackle the increasing threat of terrorism. Leo DiCaprio puts up a good performance as the CIA agent who forms good ties with the Jordanian General Intelligence Department. He puts himself at risk while meeting informants and his passion for defeating terrorism wanes thin when more and more of his compatriots get killed. His supervisor in command, Russell Crowe, doesn't help matters as he goes on with his life with his family in America while barking commands that are inhumane and tough to implement.

Buildings are blown up, innocent lives are lost and the threat of terrorism never seems to fade. The documentary style movie offers little new insight to the present situation of terrorism except for one of its innovative ways to track down the terrorists. The message presented is well-intentioned, but it doesn't make audiences feel very urgent or strongly against the rise of the militants. The pace is steady and it focuses on telling audiences the message that many of us already know.

The good performances help to elevate the show with the good character development. The story is no doubt rather engaging but the emotional aspect of the movie can definitely be improved. If it were more cinematic, climatic and more focused (as i feel that there are too many heavy-handed themes in the movie that bog down the movie, namely the political inter-country relations, the terrorism, and the tactics and conspiracies involved in trying to catch the terrorists), it would pack more punches.

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My heart goes out to the victims of the recent Mumbai bombings.