Intriguing subject of early history of CIA

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2006)

The Good Shepherd's subject material is very intriguing but the movie has some problems. The story revolves around the character of Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) who is asked to join the agency to run some operations back in 1939. But the current time line is actually 1961 so the movie goes back and forth in time as different incidents take place within the agency. The main problem with the movie is that it is trying to do too much. There are so many characters in the movie and because we see them only for a brief period of time, we don't feel anything for the characters. There is not enough character development. It is essential for a movie to establish some kind of bonding between the audience and its characters. This movie fails to do that miserably. Although I had no problem with Matt Damon's acting before, I was very disappointed by his flat performance. I am not sure what his character is supposed to be. Is he supposed to be brutal, cold-blooded person? Or is he supposed to be devoted to his work at all costs, moral/immoral, good/bad, brave/coward? His character lacks depth and is very flat I am not sure what he is. Since his character is the focal point of the story, it really takes away from the film's power. All the other characters, Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), Philip Allen (William Hurt), Edward's son, his son's girlfriend, and all the other characters have so little screen time, audience doesn't know what to feel about them. The only characters that seemed to convey some real emotions were Edward's wife (Angelina Jolie), Edward's mute girlfriend Laura (Tammy Blanchard) and John Turturo's character: Ray Brocco. All the other characters had their functions in the story but conveyed no importance to me. This could be a very good TV series. Develop all those characters and stretch them out in a 2-3 year season TV series.