The Good Shepherd

THE GOOD SHEPHERD (15)

D: Robert DeNiro

Universal/Morgan Creek/TriBeCa/American Zoetrope (James G. Robinson, Jane Rosenthal & Robert DeNiro)

USA 🇺🇸 2006

167 mins

Drama/Thriller/Political

W: Eric Roth

DP: Robert Richardson

Ed: Tariq Anwar

Mus: Bruce Fowler & Marcelo Zarvos

PD: Jeannine Oppewall

Cos: Ann Roth

Matt Damon (Edward Wilson, Sr.), Angelina Jolie (Margaret Russell Wilson), Tammy Blanchard (Laura), Robert DeNiro (Gen. William Sullivan), Alec Baldwin (FBI Agent Samuel Murach), William Hurt (CIA director Philip Allen), Joe Pesci (Joseph Balmi), Eddie Redmayne (Edward Wilson, Jr.)

Robert DeNiro directs this American political thriller charting the birth of the CIA, from its inception through to the Kennedy Administration and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Seen through the eyes of the laconic and staid head of CIA operations, Edward Wilson, throughout his own life, from his father's death, his experiences at Yale University's Skull & Bones society, a shotgun marriage and his first missions, cutting his teeth as a spy in London.

Though the performances are all excellent and the production design and photography flawless, the narrative of this film does drag, especially through the mid-section, as it attempts to be an American version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

This was a pet project for Robert DeNiro, and you can tell that a lot of care went into the production itself, but it really could have been half-an-hour shorter without losing too much narrative drive.

Fans of spy movies will certainly enjoy it, but for everyone else, you could take it or leave it.

6/10