Fighting your inner Damon

Rating: 7/10 (18 April 2007)

More than a decade after Bronx Tale (an impressive debut film as director) De Niro comes with his sophomore picture. A big one by all means. That's not only the running time (nearly 3 hours), but also the cast (for details look on the IMDb site or the trailer for this movie, also found here on this page somewhere) and the beginning/birth of the CIA!
Spy business has nothing to do with emotions and that is what you are getting here (although Matt Damon's character does have empathy and does trust people, for better or worse). But you will also feel emotionally detached from the characters, too. And that is one of the few points that I have to criticize. Because overall it's a good movie! One other thing being the running time. I can't say where something should've been cut out, but it is a very long movie (although mind you, shorter running-time movies have felt longer to me).
The story is told through a the course of a couple of decades and is going back & forth in time. Which is handled very nicely by the script & De Niro. Although it might be confusing in the beginning, you will understand what's going on as the time progresses! If the 3 hrs. running time don't bother you, than watch the movie, it's worth your while! Matt your spy yet?