Nowadays it is very difficult to have that star at the head of your project that not only guarantees you the green light, but also capable of attracting the public and that can make a real success. Many try to put several interpreters together so that, with luck, together they can add value equivalent to one of these stars. The luckiest, directly get one of these stars.
That’s why it’s so fascinating when you find a movie that, on top of that, has two of those stars. Leonardo Dicaprio Y Russell Crowe They are actors who, without a doubt, they fall into that category of what we’re talking aboutand both shared screen and poster in that formidable film that is ‘web of lies‘, which we can see today on television through La Sexta from 10:30 p.m.
Trust nobody
This constellation of big names is only possible under the baton of a great director. Ridley Scott launched into this major Warner Bros. adult film project that adapts an intriguing novel by David Ignatius that was causing a sensation in Hollywood offices. The intention was to recover that classic espionage thrillerin the vein of films like ‘The Three Days of the Condor’ or ‘The Last Witness’.
DiCaprio plays here one of the most promising agents of the CIA, an extraordinary one, who is assigned by his superiors to the Middle East to find one of the leaders of Al Qaeda. Next to him is Crowe’s character, who performs remote support from his house, giving him directions that will put him in the lion’s den.
In the credits we see Ridley’s name as director, but his way of dealing with the espionage thriller, increasing the levels of paranoia and putting the focus on hypervigilance, also employing restless visual techniques, they are very reminiscent of his brother Tony Scott. One could almost even say that he directed it, although the effectiveness it shows is a Ridley house brand, which could be put on as a good Hollywood craftsman when he wanted.
‘Web of lies’: who is the enemy
Thematically it can be framed as a Ridley film. The history focuses on the conflict between the West and the East in the context of war, which is not too far removed from his previous film ‘Kingdom of Heaven’. We don’t have swords and crusades here, we have sophisticated surveillance and terrorism, but the way an empire is shown attempting to undermine Islamic influence in the region, employing dehumanization in the process, is much the same.
An old school film, remarkably effective and with a perfect collaboration between actors and director. It did not manage to work at all commercially, leaving its collection below 67 million of its budget, and it has been labeled as a minor film precisely because of its similarities with Tony Scott. But it is a formidable film to appreciate from Ridleybetter than many that came after.