Ridley Scott: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best

11. Body Of Lies

It's far from the best film in Scott's filmography, but Body of Lies is an entertaining and underrated, if conventional, spy thriller boosted significantly by Scott's superb direction and killer performances from a doughy Russell Crowe, Mark Strong and Leonardo DiCaprio. It doesn't do much new and in retrospect pretty much just plays out like a two-hour episode of Homeland, but it's riveting and intriguing while you're watching it, even if you might not be able to recount much of the plot in a week or two. It looks fab, the acting is terrific and there are several sequences of brilliantly sustained tension, so while it's a shame the plot wasn't more unique, it's hardly a total deal-breaker here. The love story is the film's major weakness, a totally forced and tonally jarring addition which is completely unnecessary above all else. That said, all's well that ends well, and Body of Lies ends with a killer new Guns N' Roses song, so there's that...