SEE IT IF YOU MUST! As A Movie It is Exciting and Fun... But!

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2006)

This movie is largely DISINFORMATION. It suggests that the CIA and by implication the BUSH family was NOT TIGHT with the NAZI's prior to and during WWII which by many historical standards is a lie.
In addition, the IMPLICATION of this movie is that the CIA was NOT complicit in letting NAZI's into the US after war when again, as a matter of historical record - many low level NAZI's were brought into the US after the war. How do I know? For one... again... the historical record bears this out... and two... I have personally met several who worked with my father for 45 years in the defense industry - AND NO... they weren't rocket scientists.
Further, I pity the minds of the poor young saps that watch this movie and think that the Bay of Pigs invasion was caused by a COWARD and TRAITOR or LOOSE LIPS in the CIA. Again,... my understanding of history and if you check your research will bear this out too - The Bay of Pigs went bad because Kennedy wouldn't order AIR SUPPORT for the invasion force.
All the DRAMA and the double dealing, complicity to murder, political assinatons and all that is pretty much well characterized but as I left the theater I kept asking myself what the REAL MESSAGES were in this movie. It GLOSSED OVER the role of the CIA in overthrowing popularly elected left-wing governments (of which there were so many instances we would be hard pressed to list them here)while centering the whole thing as a power trip parade around the issues of what it would be like to be a major player at CIA in its days of inception. As a thrill ride and adrenalin rush for the geezer crowd or a cerebral look at how cool it would be to be a 'real' James Bond for the young set IT MIGHT BE ENJOYABLE. Anyone, however, with a social conscience from the boomer generation will probably leave the theater feeling that they were 'slimed.'
I actually laughed out loud at one point during the movie. Matt Damon's character has turned an alleged Russian Spy and low and behold they bring in the 'real' person whose identity this fellow had assumed and they beat him senseless and then with Matt Damon's permission they dose him with ACID. At which point the guy starts entering a rapture state either reaching out to his physical blood father or an imagined image of the god of his understanding and is experiencing bliss. Then in a moment of reflection and then soberness he looks at the intelligence officer and tells him the plain truth. "The USSR is nothing but fresh paint on a rusty infrastructure and will rot from the inside." And in an homage to the MK-Ultra program (in reality run by the CIA in the 50s - dosing unsuspected citizens with LSD) the guy jumps out the window 6 floors to his death. (I was the only one who found this poor souls experience comedy - the geezers and the youngsters were silent throughout.)
Frankly folks... After the first 12 minutes I think I pegged the movie correctly! Smoke - Bullshit and Mirrors. Total Disinformation. And while I am not accusing him of being an agent of the CIA nor complicit in writing a script to dis-inform the rubes of America on the true history and roots of the CIA, I don't think Robert De Niro could have done a better job of doing just that - even if he WAS on their payroll.
Angelina Jolie by the way was panned generally in the media as unbelievable in her role as the wife who lived a lonely existence in fear, dread and resentment for 25 years as her husband went for to save the world for democracy, but I thought she was very credible. I had never seen any movie before with her in it and I thought she did a great job. Great acting all the way around and even though the movie was too long, I was so rapped up in it I didn't bail midway through for a pee break.
For intrigue and a look at duplicity and a general hose job on Skull and Bones Society at Yale, and for the acting I give the movie 5 stars.
As for historical accuracy I give in 0 Stars. For a rewrite of history I take my hat off to the insidious bastards that wrote the script.
Your impressions may vary. If this has intrigued you... go see the film. As I said I does a great hose job on the Skull and Bones Society.
And the guy who played the beaten and LSD dosed Soviet Citizen should get some sort of accolade in my opinion from the academy for his bit part.