(2008; English and Arabic) "We have bled … now they will bleed," announces Al-Saleem, speaking of avenging for the American wars, in a TV broadcast as British soldiers storm a jihadi flat in Manchester, England, which its occupants detonate.

These Islamists are people of the past who by discarding technology become invisible to people of the future, thus threatening global conflagration, explains Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), an overbearing veteran agent and overweight Southerner at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

In Samarra, Iraq, Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio), fluent in Arabic, and his Iraqi partner Bassam attempt to turn Nizar, promising him asylum, but family-man Hoffman ("Ain't nobody innocent in this") refuses to grant permission for the potential martyr to get to the US in one piece versus a thousand pieces to paradise, directing Ferris to watch who kills Nizar.

Following an operation to get intel from a Balad safe house and then destroy it, Ferris - in the thick of things, wary and distrustful of Hoffman, insulated by the bureaucracy - is sent to Amman, Jordan, as acting station chief where he liaises with "an exceedingly polite gentleman," Hani Salaam (Mark Strong), the head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directive, who emphasizes one rule: "Never lie to me."

Director/producer Ridley Scott's politically pungent, hot-off-the-grill espionage thriller, adapted from David Ignatius's novel, raises the flavored fever of excitement, making piquant our engrossment, keeping us wondering who's playing whom.

After showing Ferris his practice of punishment, Hani then demonstrates his method of benevolently converting a Qaeda recruit, Mustafa Karami, before releasing him, explaining his invisible grip on the young man: "I can let them know he works for me."

Power-hungry and greedy for results (another bomb has exploded in Amsterdam), Hoffman arrives in Jordan ("towelhead monarchy"), where he's personally introduced to Hani who cautions against making urgency a justification for bad methods. Because of democracy, Hani tells Ferris, Americans are incapable of secrecy; Hoffman (Arabs invented algebra, but Americans figured out how to use it) tells his best agent: "You cannot trust Hani."

Getting rabies treatment for dog bites, Ferris makes acquaintance with Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani), an Iranian nurse working in a clinic in Amman, whom he delicately courts, going with her to a Palestinian refugee camp, furthering his cynicism toward his work as he becomes romantically involved.

Expelled from Jordan, Ferris devises a devious, counterintuitive operation (with the technical assistance of Garland, a trustworthy associate) to lure Al-Saleem into revealing his location by setting up a rival terrorist organization, Brothers of Awareness, using an unsuspecting Muslim architect, Omar Sadiki, in Dubai and a lawyer with low-level al-Qaeda ties; on the Brothers website, Sadiki is credited with responsibility for blowing up an officers' barracks at the US military base in Incirlik, Turkey.

Recalling Ferris to Jordan, Hani apologies for past misunderstandings, makes known his awareness of Sadiki's dealings, and assures the American: "We're not watching you. We're watching out for you." However, when Aisha is abducted, Ferris offers himself to the real terrorists in exchange for her release. He's greeted by Al-Saleem: "Welcome to Guantánamo."

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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