Movie Review - The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd (3 of 5): Matt Damon stars in this drama that examines the early history of the CIA as seen through the eyes of a dedicated agent named Edward Wilson. As an upstanding, sharp-minded Yale student, he is recruited to work for the CIA during World War II and the film follows his career within the organization up to the Bay of Pigs invasion. Though loyal to his country, Wilson begins to feel the job eroding his ideals, filling him with distrust and utterly destroying his personal life.

It’s a great setup to what I expected be a pretty cool espionage thriller. Unfortunately, it doesn’t add up and the film becomes frustrating and even boring at times. The story is told through multiple flashback sequences which make following the story and its characters difficult. Plus, the viewer is never really keyed in to understanding what this movie is about. Instead of a gripping story with some good intrigue and mild action scenes, the movie feels more like a jumble of arbitrary conversations that don’t add up to a whole lot by the end of this almost three hour film. It left me wondering what I was supposed to get from it all, besides a mild case of depression for how crappy Wilson’s life turns out after so many years with the CIA. Although there is some minimal payoff at the very depressing end of this film, it’s not enough from saving The Good Shepherd from being mediocre at best.