The Good Shepherd [2006]

Average customer rating:

how can such an exciting topic be so dull?

Dissapointed

Not merely a film but a work of art

A return to the great spy genre

very subtle film, has to be watched a few times

The Good Shepherd [2006]
Starring: Matt Damon , Angelina Jolie , Robert De Niro , Joe Pesci , and Alec Baldwin
Director: Robert de Vico
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000PMGRM8
Release Date: 2007-06-18

Amazon.co.uk Review

A complicated movie about the Central Intelligence Agency and its agents, The Good Shepherd isn't your typical spy movie. Though it stars Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity films) and Angelina Jolie (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Lara Croft franchise)--actors with considerable experience in the action-espionage genre--The Good Shepherd requires that they play more subdued and (much less interesting) characters here. The movie focuses on the career or Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged Yale graduate who goes on to help found the CIA. He is a quiet, serious, and guarded man, even in the most intimate moments with his civilian wife (Jolie, in a role that wastes her talent). Set against a backdrop of real-life events such as the Bay of Pigs, The Good Shepherd is meticulous in creating a realistic timeframe. The film gets a jolt of excitement when Robert DeNiro (in his first directing role since 1993's A Bronx Tale) peppers the screen with appearances by Joe Pesci, Alec Baldwin, and William Hurt. But those moments are too infrequent. At 157 minutes long, the film is crammed with many factual details, but the characters are shortchanged when it comes to development. Viewers have to wonder why anyone, much less someone like Wilson who has everything going for him, would devote his life to a thankless job that brings so little happiness to himself and his family. The Good Shepherd is an ambitious but flawed film. The actors do a formidable job with a well-intentioned but meandering script. However, we meet so many characters and learn so little about each that it's difficult to drum up much empathy for any of them. --Jae-Ha Kim

Customer Reviews:

how can such an exciting topic be so dull?.......2008-03-04

Very disappointing - capable actors, constrained by a plot that moved but revealed no development of characters.

Dissapointed.......2008-02-26

I watched this film after it had been recommended to me and I must say I was disappointed. There was no substance; the story line was dull, when it could have been exciting. There was no expression or feeling from the characters

The synopsis is a husband ignores his wife - oh and you see a glimpse into the CIA during the war.

Not merely a film but a work of art.......2008-02-10

"The Good Shepherd" is a masterpiece. If you go to the cinema expecting to see a James Bond film or Indiana Jones or some other mainstream movie, of course, you will be disappointed. As you would be if you visit an art gallery with the same attitude. "The Good Shepherd" is a work of art. It does what every good work of art should do: It makes you experience that which it is talking about and it leaves you puzzled and sends you home with a job of thinking to do. It is mostly a misunderstanding that sends you home looking at a Van Gogh or a Max Ernst thinking that you have seen a "lovely painting". If you think that, you might as well not have looked at it at all. Actually, it might take you years to really understand what you have seen. Similarly this film. You might have to watch it twice, you might need to read a couple of books, you might need to watch the (political) world for quite some time until you see the pieces fall into place and get an idea of the world you live in. You might even ask yourself how close "Edward Wilson" comes to a figure like Eichmann in expressing the "banality of evil" (Hannah Arendt). Maybe, as some critics say, Angelina Jolie in spite of acting brilliantly is just not the right actor for this film and timescale but maybe even that opens up a path to a connection with the present? In all, an ingenious film and whoever didn't like it should perhaps get back to his sofa with a six-pack and watch something else.

A return to the great spy genre.......2008-01-10

This film is great. It is a bit of a slow burner but had me rivetted from the start. For once, Matt Damon doesnt look 12 years old all the time and Angelie Jolie proves that she can act in a demanding role. It's defintely a return to the good old fashioned spy movies that we used to get. A little overlong and you will need to watch it with no distractions

very subtle film, has to be watched a few times.......2008-01-09

Like many people, I started watching this film because I like spy films and the cast of this one was excellent. Like many people, the first time viewing left me a little exasperated, because its not the film you anticipated.

The key point is that this is a film with renouned actors and actresses in the cast, not a film with special effects and explosions, and is therefore far more subtle and focused on dialogue/character interaction than providing viewer escapism.

Character development and complexity matches that of the first Godfather film. Matt Damons performance and transformation from a shy student, with human values who has the capacity to love into an indifferent, manipulative and subtley deadly man with immense influence is similar to Pacino's, and equally as vicious.

Whereas, Pacino's Michael Corleone has the capacity to destroy a family members life via murder, Damon's performance to portray the destruction of a family members life by indifference and inaction is more frightening.

As his son becomes a CIA member, Damon's perspective of him fluctuates between that of a father and that of someone managing an asset and is pulled off exceedingly convincingly and scary. Specially considering that Damon gives an excellent portrayal of someone who thinks that once an asset has run out of usage (as defined by himself)it should be discarded like a dead battery.

Damon and Turturro's on screen chemistry from Rounders continues, and Turturro becomes the Al Neri of this film, equally as indifferent as his boss and equally as focussed.

Angelie Jolee's performance as the manipulative teenager transforming into a drowning wife, literally terrified of her husband is very rich.

De Niro, Hurt, Gambon, Baldwin, Crudup, Hutton provide excellent depth to the film by offering more than supporting roles to the principals. Their characters are well developed, do not have ancillary roles, and each one has their own mini-story which further fleshes out the film, and makes the core story of hidden agenda's, corruption and treason very convincing.

Overall, watch the film, and then watch it again. The film has been made in such a way, with such depth to the character that you can rewatch it and each time see it from a different perspective, specially if you change focus on each characters development by viewing.

The film has the great potential to be a cult classic

Average customer rating:

Interesting slice of CIA history

The Good Shepherd [HD DVD] [2006]
Starring: Matt Damon , Angelina Jolie , Robert De Niro , Joe Pesci , and Alec Baldwin
Director: Robert de Vico
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: HD DVD

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ASIN: B000VA3IVW
Release Date: 2007-09-24

Customer Reviews:

Interesting slice of CIA history.......2008-01-30

In summary, I enjoyed this film but not one of the best.
In fact, there may be many people who switch off half way through.

The film is a little slow in unravelling the story and definitely not the most action packed, very much a storytelling film.

The story is essentially about how the CIA saw its roots in the OSS during teh second world war and then formed as an official organisation post the second world war to protect US interests in the world.

It revolves around one key character, Matt Damon, who is acted very well although not that hard as he is not a man of many words.

What really struck me was the type of people that populate the CIA. Definitely not your normal every day family person !

Robert De Niro should be proud in adding this to his directorial roster.

If you like a good story (as opposed to an action packed fim) along the lines of Munich et al, then you should enjoy this.

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