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The Good Shepherd (2006)

Director: Robert De Niro

Average user rating

2 reviews

Synopsis

Robert De Niro directs this dramatic account of the creation of the CIA.

Movie review

From Time Out London

At one point in De Niro’s belated second directorial outing, CIA hotshot Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) tells old flame Laura (Tammy Blanchard) that his life, since leaving her for upper-crust beauty Clover (Angelina Jolie) years ago, has been full of surprises. For him, maybe, but not to anyone familiar with the ‘serious’ spy movie à la le Carré. As the often turgid tale of one man’s hugely successful but (inevitably) emotionally costly career lumbers along, all the conventions are feebly trotted out: childhood trauma; preppy connections made at Yale (complete with gay lit prof); shady but seductive approaches made by neatly raincoated men whispering purply allusive verbiage of the ‘crows fly at midnight’ variety; increasingly hard demands made on family life by patriotic duty; the widening of professional horizons from WW2 OSS activities to the imperialist global policies of the Cold War; and the predictably gradual soul-freezing consequences of a life in which trust is impossible.

Trouble is, despite one draggy foray into Gilbert and Sullivan, Wilson, as played by Damon, never had much soul in the first place. When Sgt Ray Brocco (John Turturro) arrives to serve as his assistant, he’s told the boss is a man with no discernible sense of humour – true also of this portentous, ponderous film, which seems to equate art and substance with solemnity and slow tempo; even an offscreen children’s rendition of ‘Michael, Row the Boat Ashore’ (the movie’s big on period detail) is largo. The film’s watchable enough if you’re indulgent of its flaws, satisfied by star turns (William Hurt, Michael Gambon, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, Joe Pesci and John Sessions, not to mention the director’s own stale cameo), and happy ticking off clichés, but at 167 minutes it does tax the patience.

Author: Geoff Andrew

Time Out London Issue 1905: February 21-27 2007

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User reviews of this film

GerMac said...

Posted on Jan 02 2010 16:40 See above.

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GerMac said...

Posted on Jan 02 2010 16:36 I saw this movie when it first came out and was slightly underwhelmed by it. Its slow ponderous progression didn't encourage total engagement. Howver, I understood what de Niro was trying to achieve and stuck with it. I now have had a chance to lokk at it again and, I have to confess, it was worth it. I began to accept the slowly grinding wheels of the routine of everyday espionage, its boring attention to detail and and its more realistic lack of the usual Flash! Bang! Wallop! of the Bond type movies. In other words, slowly, slowly, catchee monkey. Admittedly, it is hard to empathise with Damon's character - a heartless automaton of a man, methodically plodding on towards his country's goals. His house is empty of love - a condition magnified by his son's craving for affection and his wife's natural longing for even companionship. As to the story line, there are times when I wondered, if there's so much paranoia out there, why he was given so much free time to speak to his greatest adversor - his Soviet conterpart. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Torture would appear to be used routinely- its use is never questioned and when one interrogation has been seen to have been botched there's never even a hint of regret, apology or otherwise. Not surprising, given the stories leaking from Guantanamo. Nonetheless, I fell it was a good effort from De Niro, Damon was very good , except that he could have aged a little more, and the rest of the main characters as played by Jolie, Gambon and Turturro (excellent!) were top class although they could have been given a little more to do to flesh them out. I would therefore give the Good Shepherd 4 out of 5 stars.

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