Matt Damon as Edward Wilson
Angelina Jolie as Clover/Margaret Russell
Alec Baldwin as Sam Murach
William Hurt as Philip Allen
John Turturro as Ray Brocco
Michael Gambon as Dr. Fredericks
Tammy Blanchard as Laura
Billy Crudup as Arch Cummings
Robert De Niro as Bill Sullivan
Keir Dullea as Senator John Russell, Sr.
Martina Gedeck as Hanna Schiller
Timothy Hutton as Thomas Wilson
Gabriel Macht as John Russell, Jr.
Lee Pace as Richard Hayes
Joe Pesci as Joseph Palmi
Eddie Redmayne as Edward Wilson, Jr.
John Sessions as Valentin Mironov
Oleg Stefan as Stas Siyanko
Directed by Robert De Niro
Summary:
De Niroâs well-intentioned attempt at examining the origins of the CIA could have been a film classic, if its intricate plot werenât delivered at such a slow and tedious pace that it deadened the strong writing and performances.
Story:
Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) loves his country, and when his country calls him into service during the early days of the Cold War, heâs ready to do whatever it takes to protect it from the Communist enemy. That often means neglecting his beautiful new wife (Angelina Jolie) and his young son (Eddie Redmayne), but thatâs what it takes to be a key player in the formation of the governmentâs new Central Intelligence Agency.
Analysis:
On paper, âThe Good Shepherdâ could be one of the most intriguing projects of the last few years. The thought of showing the behind-the-scenes workings of the CIA, how it came to be, and the way it conducted business at the height of the Cold War is the type of movie that any espionage fan would drool over, especially with such a strong cast.
It doesnât take long to get into the intrigue either, as the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba has been compromised by a leak of information to the enemy, and the governmentâs chief intelligence agent Edward Wilson must find out who is responsible, his only clue being a film of two lovers in an unknown location. Modeled after âThe Godfather II,â the film cuts back to flashbacks from Wilsonâs past, from when heâs discovered at Yale and admitted into the secret Skull and Bones society, which contains many future politicians and world leaders. At a society function, he meets the wild-hearted Clover (Angelina Jolie), who seduces him and gets herself pregnant. Edward feels obliged to marry her, breaking the heart of his long-time girlfriend, but a week after getting married, Wilson is assigned to work for Englandâs OSS and shipped to Berlin for five years to help split up the spoils of war with Russia. (The potential for a crossover with âThe Good Germanâ is there at this point, but no, thereâs no George Clooney cameo.)
For the most part, Wilsonâs life is dedicated to protecting his country, first from Nazi sympathizers and then potential communists. As he gets further and further into his job, the film shows many of the techniques of intelligence and counter-intelligence used by the OSS and CIA in its early days, which makes for interesting viewing, especially when it cuts back to âpresent dayâ (that would be 1961 in this case) where Wilsonâs team of experts try to solve the identity of the lovers in the film. Eric Rothâs script and dialogue are solid, but thereâs just way too much information and story developments pushed on the viewer, most of them delivered in such a clinical way that itâs hard not to tune things out. With so many different agents and double agents popping in and out of the movie, itâs also not always clear who everyone is and what their relationship is to each other.
You have to give director Robert De Niro some credit for assembling such an amazing cast and trying to pull off such a vast and expansive story, but much of the filmâs tedious pace can be traced back to Damonâs subdued performance as Wilson, which involves very little dialogue, expression or emotion. Some might point to Helen Mirrenâs performance in âThe Queenâ as how something like this might work, but this kind of movie needs more dynamic characters to offset the amount of information and keep things moving. Most of that comes from the satellite characters like Angelina Jolieâs Clover, who only appears in a few key sequences. John Turturro offers some much-needed humor as Wilsonâs smart-mouthed chief interrogator, but others, like Joe Pesci and De Niro himself, only show up for a few seconds, leaving it on Damonâs shoulders to carry the film.
The problem is that Wilson isnât a very interesting character to begin with, and most of his actions do more to push the audience away then get them behind him, particularly the way he treats his family and friends to get his job done. This starts fairly early with a sequence involving Michael Gambon as Wilsonâs Yale professor, who is accused of working with the enemy. Maybe if Damon had half the presence that Al Pacino did as Michael Corleone, Edward Wilson would have worked better as the filmâs central focus.
Eventually, the flashbacks catch up to the initial story and we get more into Wilsonâs family life, which is far more interesting, due to his tense relationship with his neglected wife and now grown-up son, a real stand-out performance by newcomer Eddie Redmayne. Angelina Jolie really makes the most out of her scenes, as her character deteriorates into alcoholism due to her husbandâs neglect. For some reason, itâs more entertaining to see the two of them get into shouting matches than watching the filmâs intricate plot twists, since those are the only times we see anything even approaching emotion from Wilson.
Death knell pacing aside, this is an adeptly-made film with cinematography and a score that gives it an epic feel that also harks back to the work of Francis Ford Coppola (the filmâs original director), but when all the pieces are assembled, the movieâs just too long at two and a half hours, and too tedious and meandering to maintain interest for such a long period of time. In the hands of a more experienced directorâlike Coppola or ScorseseââThe Good Shepherdâ could have been an astounding coup de grace of filmmaking; De Niro just doesnât have the chops to pull something like this off just yet.
The Bottom Line:
Fans of spy movies who are really, really interested in the origins and workings of the real CIA around the time of the Cold War might be able to keep up with the intricate plot developments and overcomplicated character dynamics to keep from dozing off. Certainly, âThe Good Shepherdâ is the type of movie that would probably improve with repeat viewings, but God only knows who could sit through this experience twice. Bond and Bourne this most certainly is not.