The Worst Serious Spy Movie Ever Made

Rating: 2/10 (12 April 2007)

We were anticipating an A quality movie about the founding of the OSS and later the CIA, but what we got was a dreadful, stilted, boring and false movie; a failure from A to Z.
The claim this is the best spy movie ever made is nonsense, particularly for anyone who remembers The House on 92nd Street, The Man Who Never Was, or at least 300 other pictures made by skilled directors who knew how to drive a story home to the audience.
All the events in this film had the makings of great drama. They were, after all, the great historic events of the last 70 years. But under Robert de Nero's misguided direction nobody in this picture is given any character, personality, motivation, nobility, or any other human characteristic. Even the Angelina Jolie role is lifeless, and how de Nero squeezed the vim and vigor out of Angelina is anybody's guess.
We only watched the first 65% of the movie, intending to see this long film over two nights. My wife was in Z City before I quit for the night. I hope to skip the remainder of it in favor of network TV. I rate it a 2 because the actual footage of some historical events was interesting.