Body of Lies (2008)

Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) is a CIA paramilitary operations officer. He is in Iraq trying to track down a terrorist called Al-Saleem. While following a lead, Ferris's asset (with whom he has become good friends) is killed during a car chase involving terrorists, rocket-propelled grenades and two missile-firing U.S. helicopters. Ferris recovers from his injuries at a U.S. facility in Qatar before he is sent to Jordan to run down some intelligence he recovered in Iraq. Meanwhile, unknown terrorists plan to follow up an offscreen series of bus bombings in Sheffield, with more attacks in Manchester but blow themselves up when the police find their cell.

Ferris and his handler Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) are strongly contrasting characters: Ferris acts on the human scale, relying heavily on trust and human intelligence. Hoffman is more Machiavellian, and keeps tabs on Ferris via a Sikorsky Cypher UAV. Towards the start of the movie, Hoffman speaks to his CIA superiors. He explains to them how terrorists are turning their back on technology by throwing away their phones and computers and using old methods of communicating face-to-face and with written messages. This terrorist retreat into the stone age paradoxically makes the strengths Hoffman has to deploy worth less, and increases his dependence on Ferris and his human intelligence.