Damon is a Puzzle

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2008)

I had some mixed feelings about this film. First of all, it is so long that to sustain an interest in the frozen expressions of Matt Damon's characters through almost three hours is quite a challenge. At times I believe that he is actually becoming human. I'm not sure that we are really privy to his ghosts, even considering the letter from his father. When a movie makes the human beings so very cold, it begs some big questions. First of all, would be psychosis. Yes, I know there are patriotic zealots. This is just too much. On the other hand, this is a really interesting part of history. It is in the period where media didn't have its tentacles in everything; where spies could play at being spies and politicians didn't have to look over their shoulders. We also had the Russians and their potential on the minds of everyone, including school children. I think if Damon's character had just had a second dimension, it would have played a lot better. Even when his son comes into the picture, we know who his real child is. Like Jean Hackman in "The Conversation" the paranoia runs so deep that he couldn't get out if he could. He has sold all his options.