The Good Shepherd

I was floored when I saw that Larry King had declared this film to be “the best spy thriller ever” for two reasons: one, since when is Larry King a film critic, and two, I was not at all thrilled by this film. If anything, I was bored during most of the 160 minutes that it took to tell a story that didn’t seem worth telling. Not to discredit the real people involved with the actual events the movie is based on, but I could not understand the appeal of bringing in a student of poetry to help with secret government duties. Matt Damon seems uncomfortable in most scenes and he surprisingly doesn’t age over a span of thirty-some years (unfortunately this is not the case for Angelina Jolie). The movie itself is inconsistent with uneven subplots and doesn’t make much sense, but perhaps I should brush up on my CIA and Cold War history. There’s really no one to root for, even Damon’s character isn’t that great of a guy and lacks substance. The most interesting performances (such as those played by director Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, and Joe Pesci) are hardly present, which is disappointing since publicity played it up that these were central characters.