Smoke and Mirrors with a Solid Ending

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2006)

"The Good Sheperd" is long and very detailed drama portraying the beginning of the CIA. Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson who is a privileged youth from a wealthy family. His father commits suicide when Edward is very young because he had betrayed his country, but before he ends his life he leaves a note for his family. Edward picks up the note and does not read it for most of the movie. As the movie goes on, Edward goes to college, joins a secret society, and finds love, but his life takes a bad turn when he impregnates Clover Russell, played by Angelina Joli, and is forced to give up his love at the time and marry Clover. In the midst of all this, Robert DeNiro and William Hurt are recruiting Damon to start an intelligence agency. As soon as he is wed, Edward receives his orders to go over seas. From this point, the film takes a serpentine approach with a lot of smoke and mirrors. Through all of this, Matt Damon becomes more and more cold and deceptive towards his family leading up to an ending that fits the movie to a "T". Robert DeNiro in his sophomore effort as a director creates a movie that drags in spots, but overall is a solid story about the start of the CIA.