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Robert De Niro's second directorial effort after the impressive and understated A Bronx Tale (1993) has long been on the list of "Must See" films here at Filmverdict. It comes as such a pity therefore that the world's greatest living actor has churned out such a tedious espionage thriller which drags on for a whopping 167 minutes without any real conviction. I have seen glaciers move faster. One should compliment De Niro on attempting such a broad story on a mysterious organization like the C.I.A. but maybe this is even a tad too complex for even the master of intricate detail. His directorial work in terms of scene attractiveness though deserves praise and the additional pieces of fiction are well done; however, the constant changing between different time frames is frustrating and has a feeling of conning the viewer into thinking the film is more intelligent than it actually is, especially the more poorly edited segments.
Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, a Yale educated and morally righteous man who is seduced into the world of national surveillance. The more successful member of the "Good Will Hunting guys" which Ross from Friends so aptly coined, has come along way since other dramatic roles like The Rainmaker (1997) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), and can now hold a big-budget thriller together almost individually with modest exertion and a stronger sense of confidence than his novice days. However, Wilson is no Jason Bourne or Colin Sullivan (from Scorsese's The Departed), and is probably less memorable than Lanus Caldwell from Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy! Damon's protagonist hogs nearly every scene of De Niro's pet project, but the director cannot seem to utilise him to the same degree of quality that Scorsese managed when the 36-year-old shared the limelight with Di Caprio only months before. He does more than hold his own with strong contemporaries like Jolie, Baldwin, Hurt, John Turturro and even De Niro himself, but something appears to be lacking from a character which seemingly never had a soul. His paranoia is explained by his father's suicide, though Wilson's overtly one-dimensional nature concerned only with intelligence is very wooden, uncharismatic and dull with Damon too young to pull off a convincing tale.
Nevertheless, De Niro's look at Yale's Skull & Bones Society is very interesting, along with Jolie trying (and failing) to have chemistry with anyone else apart from a certain William Bradley Pitt. The rest of the acting could have been more effective with deeper issues of suspense incorporated into the script - definitely with the characters played by Hurt and Tammy Blanchard. Ultimately The Good Shepherd attempts to be espionage on an epic scale. A dire need of a huge script polish in terms of dialogue and particularly audience-friendly chronology is essential first though.
The summary
De Niro's filmography has another addition from the 'historical canvas' genre. Unfortunately, the overlong view from the Ivy League isn't as attractive as his previous social and cultural underbelly masterpieces. Matt Damon's figurehead doesn't seem to possess enough grit to warrant a realistic C.I.A. historical film.
