With the age of ridiculously priced movie tickets staying strong, Netflix is my best friend. I'm a patient man; I can wait the standard 4-5 months for the DVD to come out. But when I saw the commercial for The Good Shepherd, with such critic quotes as "THE GODFATHER OF SPY MOVIES!" and "THE BEST SPY MOVIE EVER!", I was sold.
Okay, actually it took some convincing from my friends after a long day of last-minute Christmas shopping when I could have just as easily sat on my ass at home and had a solid helping of Battlestar Galactica Season 2. Plus, I am not so sure Larry King and I share similar taste in film. But I hadn't seen some of my buddies in a while, so I said frak it and hit up the theater.
The plot (courtesy of WikiPedia):
"The value of secrecy -- commitment to honor and discretion -- has been embedded in Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) since childhood. As a dedicated, optimistic student at Yale University, he is recruited to join the Order of Skull and Bones, a secret society designed to breed the world leaders of tomorrow. Wilson's acute intelligence, immaculate reputation, and sincere belief in American values render him a prime candidate for a career in intelligence. During the Second World War, General Sullivan (Robert De Niro) recruits him to the new Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. As one of the Office's covert founders, duplicity is required of Wilson as he navigates a world where nothing can be accepted at face value.
Over his thirty-year career, Wilson's methods are adopted as standard operating procedure and he becomes a respected veteran in his field, but his idealism is eroded by a growing suspicious nature, reflective of a world settling into the long paranoia of the Cold War, and an escalating conflict with his volatile KGB counterpart. In the end, he sacrifices everything in the name of serving the country he loves, including his wife Clover (Angelina Jolie), his child, and himself."
The 10:20 show probably was not the best choice. I didn't realize I was locking myself in for a slow-paced, political thriller with the ominous "greater than 120 minutes" running time. In other words, it certainly felt like it spanned thirty years. It touched on a number of events throughout that time period - World War II, the Cold War, the Bay of Pigs, the origin of the CIA - but I never felt as if the film gave any its due.
Instead, the focus was placed on Edward Wilson, played stoically by Damon. I have never been disappointed with a Damon performance. Hunting. Ripley. Bourne. I loved them all. I couldn't imagine Leo, who was originally slated to play the lead, pulling this role off. Damon did a great job playing the character as the screenplay surely dictated, but I just stopped caring about him and the whole web of espionage around the 76th minute. With all the focus on Damon's character, I didn't get the sense of any significant character development from a cold, unemotional operative with no sense of humor, and if that's the case, why SHOULD I care?
The plot was filled with holes and a lot was left unexplained. Some will argue that this was what makes a spy movie great. That's just crap. For example, at one point, Damon's son is seen as a helpless boy nervously peeing on Santa at a Christmas party and before you know it, he's grown up, smoking cigarettes, joining the CIA and hooking up with some KGB agent in the Congo. Please!
The Good Shepherd did keep my interest; I will give it that. But I'm thinking it was more because I was waiting - nay, praying - for Wilson's neglected wife Clover (Angelina Jolie) to show some boob. Sorry kids, no boob. Zero. There wasn't even a hint of cleavage. What a waste. On a side note, I miss the Jolie a la Girl, Interrupted. You know, when she used to play with knives and wear a "Do Me" look on her face accented by vials of blood hanging from her neck? She used to ooze sex. Now, frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of her and her UN antics. Did you stop reading and scroll down to stare at the Angelina pic? Thought so.
Another part of the film that I wasn't feeling was all its the star power. Aside from Damon, Jolie and De Niro, there was Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, Billy Cruddup, William Hurt, John Turturro, even an extremely wrinkled Joe Pesci! It just got a bit distracting after a while. It felt like De Niro was at some Oscars party last year drunkenly recruiting everyone he met into the movie. Honestly, the movie is better than 80% of the crap you see out there right now. Yes, I'm talking about you
Deck the Halls.
Nevertheless, the plot was weak, there was seemingly no character development, I don't feel like I learned anything about the history of the events discussed, and did I mention it was long as hell? It makes me happy to see that the Golden Globe nomination committee didn't get tricked by all that star power and rightfully snubbed
The Good Shepherd.
I probably should have just stayed home and kicked it with
Starbuck and
Gauis.
The Good Shepherd Trailer
