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The Good Shepard exposes the beginnings of the CIA and the exploits of its most uninteresting agent, Edward Wilson played by Matt Damon. Those who recognize Damon from other films such as the recent The Departed will not see any resemblance here. Instead of a charismatic and dynamic role you usually can expect from Matt Damon we get a depressed and placid character in Agent Wilson. This guy is so uptight he could crack a walnut in his ass. This spy is no Bourne Identity, more like Al Gore in a fake mustache. Normally the spy movie is a formula that can provide an exhilarating piece of cinema. However instead of chase scenes and shootouts we get a lot of desk riding, telephone conversations and paperwork. DeNiro clearly chose to forgo flashy sensationalism in favor of tedious mind numbing realism. It may be genuine but it makes for a lame film. We also get the inexplicable privilege to see a glimpse of Agent Wilson’s personal life and his wife who is played by Angelina Jolie. She has a convincing performance as the neglected wife of a federal agent. No doubt, casting Jolie was one of the few right decisions in the production of The Good Shepherd; the role was very appropriate for her. The Good Shepherd is an extremely laborious movie to watch. Not only is it excessively long, clocking in at almost three hours, it also jumps from date and setting almost at whim, making it a bewildering effort to keep track of the plot. The story takes place intermittingly between the end of WWII, when the US was attempting to secure it’s power hold on Europe, and up until the rise of Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. The main antagonist in the film is the Russian government and their parallel organization the KGB. The principle problem I have with the film is that there is very little in the way of conflict, at least not any that we would care about. It is obvious that DeNiro and the other producers lack some serious editing skills. The film could have easily been cut to an hour and a half considering all of the pointless scenes here. The majority of time is spent on the identification of suspects on a distorted surveillance video, when it is finally revealed who they are I was left completely unappeased and felt like my time was totally wasted. Much of the movie features cameo roles by DeNiro’s Hollywood friends. When looking at the cast you get the impression that it’s star filled film. The Good Shepherd features Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, John Turturro and Joe Pesci. Even DeNiro’s role is actually merely a cameo, contrary to what the DVD box will lead you to believe, he is only in about two scenes. They really gave us the Ol’ Bait And Switch. I was pissed! I was also surprised to see that there little in the way of special features on the DVD. The only thing that you will see there are seven deleted scenes totaling sixteen minutes. I did not even bother to watch them because I didn’t want to extend the agony and make this film a true three hour plus experience. I would have liked to see a running commentary included. It would have been nice knowing what DeNiro was thinking including some of those scenes. The Good Shepherd undoubtedly had some good intentions. The ideas were sound but the execution was off. The film could have been edited to be a little more viewer friendly. Honestly if I did not receive this DVD for review I would have probably shut it off in the middle somewhere. It was not the most enjoyable experience. As I said earlier, I am a huge DeNiro fan, but when I comes to directing he’s no Clint Eastwood. -kevin-
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