'Body Of Lies' (R)(out of four)

Director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe have enjoyed great success with their previous efforts, "Gladiator" and "American Gangster," and on one occasion have stumbled ("A Good Year"). For their latest project together, the duo of heavy hitters have teamed up with another player possessing tremendous depth -- Leonardo DiCaprio -- to tackle the minefield that's today's Middle East, and the result is another great film.

DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a brilliant CIA field operative who has seen some of his operations fall terribly apart. His strings are being pulled from Washington by his boss Ed Hoffman (Crowe). Hoffman is the type of man who can watch his kid at a sporting event or eat cereal in his back yard, while at the same time casually give orders over his cell phone headset that will result in people being eliminated halfway around the world.

Loyalty is not high on his list of priorities, which often puts him at odds with Ferris who strives to protect, or at least stand by his word, when it comes to the shady and shaky individuals he's dealing with.

Hoffman uses Ferris like a chess piece in pursuit of a major terrorist leader, sending him to Jordan where he must enlist the help of that country's intelligence service. He more than meets his match while dealing with the head of that agency - Hani Salaam - a suave, thoughtful, and forceful man played with authority by Mark Strong ("Syriana").

Strong delivers an Oscar-worthy performance, stealing all of his scenes as he befriends, lectures and sometimes plays hardball with the American intelligence officer. His character does a lot to make the case for nuance and patience when pursuing the bad guys, which finds him at odds with Hoffman, who is ready to send in the heavy artillery at a moment's notice. It's in this murky world of gray that Ferris finally starts to make some progress.

The movie is incredibly captivating, whether it's showing how the agents stage an intricate, high-tech set-up of an innocent architect in order to draw in the bad guys, or when depicting a helicopter assault against some pursuing terrorists.

There's also a message being delivered about political situations not always being black and white, but thankfully it's accomplished in a skillful and not heavy-handed manner. Some of the movie's best moments (message and otherwise) come courtesy of Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who plays a nurse with whom Ferris begins a slow-moving, but very enlightening romance. There's a great scene where she invites him for dinner at her home where her date winds up getting grilling from her sister.

Screenwriter William Monahan ("The Departed," "Kingdom of Heaven") did a fine job in weaving together an intricate story from the novel by Washington Post writer David Ignatius. And when it comes to constructing stellar action sequences, few can do better than director Scott, who did the same with "Blackhawk Down."

Crowe, as usual, is great as the business-like CIA chief, but it's DiCaprio who does most of the heavy lifting in this movie. The 33-year-old actor looks a little young for his character, but manages to pull off another dazzling performance.

The truth of the matter is, "Body of Lies" is an exciting, intelligent and thought-provoking movie well-worth seeing.