The Film Spies on the Spys but Not the Agency

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2016)

Director Robert Di Niro Succeeds in Placing the Audience in the Time and Place of the Settings, but is Less Successful in Analyzing the "Big Picture" in His Picture about the Early Days of the CIA and its Precursor the OSS.
By choosing to Go Deep into the Ramifications of the unbridled Secrecy and its effect Personally on Key Figures, the Film Fails to lay out in its Three Hour Running Time any Serious Successes the Agency Acquired and Any of the Failures, and its Devastation Globally.
The A-List Cast are Equipped with a somewhat Skimpy Script full of Mannerisms and Behaviors that One could Gleam from a Public Relations Release. Norman Rockwell Portraits on the Outside and individual Human Flaws on the Inside. Not exactly Deep Insight Into the Most Covert of Covert Organizations that have such Grand Consequences.
The Movie is so Meticulous with the Details and so Shallow about the Political and Powerful Remnants of its Operations. Corporate Influences are only Hinted at and the Manipulation of Governments are brief Travelogues of sorts.
As a Story about People and Their Peccadillos in and around the Agencies it is quite Compelling Drama, but any Insight about the Manifestations and the Operations of Black Ops, Except for some Impressive Tradecraft, Considering its Length, is a Disappointment.