An Editorial Mess

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2007)

There's no denying that Robert De Niro's THE GOOD SHEPHERD is an interesting movie; it deals with the birth of the CIA from the perspective of one of its founders. But what could have been a monumental spy/drama masterpiece ends up an editorial mess. Like one user said here, the casting of Matt Damon might've been OK had he had some "old age" make up on the required scenes. We see the story through his eyes and senses and throughout the whole movie he doesn't appear older than 34 years old...even when he's supposed to look at least 12 years older. Angelina Jolie (who plays Damon's wife) ages a bit better but not dramatically (these people must've been vegetarians to look this good at an old age). Casting aside, its the story itself that doesn't hold up. You feel no attachment to ANY of the characters. Not that I must feel any sort of attachment to any character in any movie, but what I'm trying to say here is that I couldn't care less what happened to Damon's character, or Angelina's character or their son's character. Damon plays an emotionless public servant who goes on to become big in the CIA. He seems to forsake his family in the name of America. I wonder how many fathers would do that now a days. The story is too messy and unclear to give you an accurate description. It's nice to have movies that leave something to the audience's imagination, but this one goes a bit too far. Many things are left unexplained or discussed very briefly. Only the flashback scenes (Damon reminiscing of his younger years) do make some sense and in a way, could have been a terrific movie on their own.
The acting and camera work is top notch and somewhere beneath this mess lies an interesting drama. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it!