The Good Shepherd - quick review
 

Didn't see a thread on this film, so...

Considering Matt Damon's other spy role (Jason Bourne), the nuanced counter-intelligence moves executed by Edward Wilson had to bear some irony by viewers in simply the casting of Damon in both roles.

I have an interest in the material dealing with how the need for international spying was developed as WWII became a full-fledged event around the world. I did like the use of intercutting the fallout of the Bay of Pigs invasion within a few weeks of the debacle with Wilson's own personal story from college to said debacle, and its use in using his life as a metaphor in the personal and human costs that are a byproduct of activities relating espionage and counter-intelligence.

Life as a spook is not often exciting, but the ramifications of key moments can shape national policy and other national interests, even if the import of such events aren't known for years to come afterwards. The film keeps a very low key approach in revealing Wilson's life and the approach fits within such a secretive character, always living in the shadows while acting with the best intentions in a grey world of mistrust and misgivings.

Granted, it is a long film, over 150 minutes long, so don't expect a 90-minute thrill ride, it's more contemplative of the subject material, with a pace that easily produced paranoia from the very act of watching the film unfold. The pacing is intentional, but I don't think the casual film-goer will enjoy the pacing, and I think it would work better on DVD, viewing the film over 2 nights.

DeNiro keeps it as real as possible for a film that covers about 22 years of Wilson's life (1939 - 1961) and his role in being in on the ground floor of the beginnings of the CIA. For a film with a lot of shadows and innate darkness, it's a treat to take in the cinematography for this time period and get become totally entrenched in it.

The acting is what it is as required by the subject material and script. Is it scintillating, no, but it is a film of secrets, of covert actions and consequences, both professional and personal.

I give it 2.75 stars or a grade of B- (would have been rated a little higher if the film was tightened up a bit).

good 'quick review'. although i enjoyed the film also, i do agree that it could have been tightened up as well. i had some trouble with the intercutting between what they were considering to the be the present to the past, though i understand the reason for it. it made it hard for it be followed at times, in my opinion.

i still have questions as to most of it and in my opinion, it never showed the build up of the CIA, just how it was started. i guess i would have expected more of a storyline line as how the CIA was started and the events that led up to 1961 and the bay of pigs invasion.



the music towards in the end with edward in the muesum was great in my opinon, really fit the mood of the scene.

i was beginning to wonder if anyone else had seen this since i searched and didn't find anything!

Re: the question in the spoiler:

I liked the movie a great deal, and felt it really showed a different side of Damon. I loved the Damon-Turturro relationship and the interplay between Ulysses and Mother...I agree it could have been edited a bit better, but mainly at the beginning, because once it got going, I thought it really flowed well.

makes sense about kokoh. in reply to ed jr...

Well,

Agreed.


I saw it Christmas night at an late 11:25p showing, I did hear some snoring. I also heard a conversation in the men's room between some young guys who apparently came to see "Bourne Identity" :lol: because they were bitching about the lack of action...oh well.


Anyway, I really liked this film and I thought everyone did a great job.

I had no problems with that part of the movie but I do think part of the problem with the "then and now" part of the movie may be the fact that you can't really age Damon. He always looks young and a little grey hair still doesn't age him much.

I hate to threadcrap, but I feel that I owe the rest of humanity a differing opinion on this film. Going on no sleep so I won't articulate this very well probably.

I'm not an action addict, and went into the movie not expecting anything besides a historical, twist and turns spy flick. I can sit through and enjoy some slow boring movies.

But this was almost unbearable. I've only walked out of 2 movies in a life full of a lot of them, but if my friend had wanted to leave I would not have put up much of a fuss.

A couple of good performances to be sure, but I don't think I ever really cared about any of the characters.

That said, I would be interested in the DVD if it had commentaries by real CIA historians or other features detailing the history of the agency.

I think there was 100% agreement among my friend who went to go see this tonight: "Thoroughly Mediocre"

How long is Joe Pesci in the movie?

I'd say less than 90 seconds.

I thought it was a good movie. It did run just a bit long and the constant shift from past to present took some getting used to but I did like the movie. It did leave a few questions regarding other relationships in the movie.

Just got done watching this and I did enjoy it. It was long and slow and I had no idea who most of the people where when they would re-appear but I still liked it.

I did wonder about the deaf girl when they met back up. She was wearing a hearing aid similar to the girl earlier in the movie so I was wondering if that was a nod from Ulysses and Ed didn't pick up on it? Plus when Jr said his fiance was pregnant it seemed to call into question how Clover hooked him in so I didn't know if she was a spy as well.

What a boring movie, good performances, and I do understand that the point of the movie is not action but goddamn it was unbearable. One of the biggest disappointments of 2006.

Started watching tonight and just turned it off after 65 minutes. I don't think I'll ever try to see what I missed. I just didn't care about anything that was going on at all.

I'm curious what kind of movies you do like, because you made a similar statement about Children of Men.

Movies that I've seen recently that I loved:

Pan's Labryinth
Beerfest
The Prestige
Invincible
Borat
Babel

Movies that I've seen recently that I thought were decent:

Idiocracy
Smokin Aces
Let's Go To Prison
Reno 911


Movies I've seen recently that I thought sucked:

Children of Men
Crank
Primeval
and what I saw of The Good Shepherd

If you found Children of Men boring I don't know how you could find Babel constantly engrossing. To each his own

I felt the same way when I saw it in the theater. It wasn't even bad but there really wasn't anything good about it. It was the biggest "blah" movie I've ever seen. I honestly walked out of the theater with no reaction and probably completely forgot about it by the next day. What a waste of good talent.

I never once said that I found Children of Men boring. To the contrary, it was anything but. That didn't make it good though.

Just saw this and thought I would chime in with my quick review. I was very mixed with this film. It was beautifully photographed and predominantly strongly acted given the wooden, unexpressive nature of most the characters (perhaps Jolie's is an exception), but De Niro's direction was otherwise largely uninspired and the film didn't have much narrative thrust or hook. However, there were just enough powerful moments dispersed throughout, including the final narration (gut-wrenching and reminiscent of the last moment of Godfather II), that puts the entire film into perspective and warrants a recommendation, even though it may not be an over-enthusiastic one.

I really liked the movie. I didn't really "get" the point of the movie until about halfway through, but I found following Damon's character through his life and the hard choices he had to make in it to be really engrossing.

It's a quiet movie, which I don't go for that much, but I was thoroughly entertained.

I watched this tonight based on the decent reviews from the Rank Them As You See Them thread. I was surprised to come in here and find a bunch of hate for the movie.

I thought it was ok. I didn't start watching till 9:00 so by almost midnight I was getting a bit sleepy.