'Good Shepherd' is, alas, not good
As director, De Niro's consistently inconsistent; as star, Damon's deadly dull
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.21.2006
Directing his first film since 1993, Robert De Niro made up for lost time by making "The Good Shepherd," a film that feels like it takes 13 years to watch.
That's an exaggeration. The sprawling, 160-minute epic only feels like it takes seven hours.
"The Good Shepherd" details the infancy of the CIA through the eyes of agent Edward Wilson, played by a disinterested Matt Damon. Those expecting the shrewd, fast-talking Damon from "Good Will Hunting" and "The Departed" will be disappointed. Edward is a blank slate who says little and does even less. He's about as expressive as a stone statue, with half the personality.
The problems with the film start at the top. De Niro's vision seems unfocused and ill-executed. It seems as though he had a thousand good ideas about what a spy film should be that didn't quite coalesce into a singular product, but he crammed 'em all in there regardless and tossed the editing shears into the garbage.
De Niro, whose last directorial credit was for "A Bronx Tale," and screenwriter Eric Roth make inconsistency their one consistency throughout the way-too-long film. There's no forward thrust or apparent point to the proceedings, and the movie's big twist is easily guessable an hour or so before it's revealed. The timeline skips without purpose between the 1940s, when Edward is fresh out of Yale and learning tricks of the trade from the British, and 1961 in the wake of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, for which Edward was apparently responsible.
You'll need to keep careful track of the screen graphics to be sure what year it is, since Damon looks the same in every scene. If you can avoid busting up laughing when Edward addresses his son, played by 24-year-old Eddie Redmayne, who in real life is only 12 years younger than Damon, you're blessed with better manners than your humble writer.
Early scenes in which Edward is recruited into Yale's secret Skull and Bones society seem intriguing. Edward catches the group's eye while playing a woman in a school musical, but he never again shows so much nerve or intrigue.
De Niro rushes us through the initiation rituals, which include naked mud-wrestling, urination and dark confessions to other "Bonesmen" while lying — you guessed it — naked.
Eventually, Edward is recruited in a covert mission by an FBI man to spy on fascist organizers on campus. Then comes an appointment to a CIA office and an unhappy marriage to Clover (Angelina Jolie). Edward keeps insisting on taking posts overseas and, even while home, refuses to pay attention to his wife. Edward is supposedly super-smart and brilliantly intuitive, but you feel like hitting him over the head and saying, "Dude, you're married to Angelina Jolie!"
Edward is forced to make tough decisions that nudge him to sacrifice innocents, suspect close allies and oversee torturing of suspects. He loses his soul, and "The Good Shepherd" sucks away the audience's.
