Couldn't keep my eyes open

Rating: 6/10 (11 October 2007)

This would have been a cracking 90-minute movie, but like so many recent Hollywood efforts it's far too long.
There's some genuinely interesting stuff in here. The dissection of the photograph and tape by the CIA technicians is interesting and impressive. The period pieces in London and the US are great, but Germany looked very like a film set to me. In general, however, the sets are fantastic and the various periods and places - with the exception of post-war Germany - feel authentic. I particularly enjoyed the Skull & Bones Club (isn't the current President a member, maybe his dad too?) and the dodgy Cambridge boys who "stick together like glue"! Michael Gambon is terrific, as usual. But the big US stars - De Niro, Jolie and Damon - are at times laughably bad. De Niro's US General with the sore feet made me laugh out loud. The script didn't give Matt Damon a great deal of scope for showing the full range of his acting talents; even so, he was amazingly wooden and dull. John Turturro was the best of the US actors, but then at least he had some interesting lines to say. And where was Bob Dylan?