Director Ridley Scott's latest, a jet-setting espionage thriller set in the thick of the current Middle Eastern conflicts, is many things. Sometimes it's an action movie, sometimes it's a political movie, at times it's a workplace dramedy -- the boss/employee tension between Russell Crowe's and Leonardo DiCaprio's CIA agent characters is surprisingly relatable, with the two playing their own game of Spy vs. Spy throughout the film. It dips its toes in the waters of moral complexity, but doesn't stay there very long, and it even tries to find time to tell a love story, but doesn't stay there very long, either. The film would feel confused, but the storytelling is not directionless, per se -- more ambitious, really, and I think it tries much harder than most Hollywood films on the subject not to take a side on the issue. It opens with the W.H. Auden quote, "Those to whom evil is done do evil in return." And that's exactly what happens throughout the story. We're evil. They're evil. Our allies in the Middle East desperately trying to hold on to their wealth are evil. And the people who aren't evil are the ones who suffer most.

Tags: Body of Lies, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe, Syriana