Purely Joyful Movie!

Powerful

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Yet another Hollywood 'historic' movie to make good Americans feel educated on war... Admitted, I only lasted an hour or so, but the Hollywood dramaturgi with E V E R Y dialog meant to shove it down your throat and leave nothing to your own precious imagination, makes me sick .. Stop it, Hollywood, its getting embarrassing to watch! Cartoonish and almost resembling the cinematography of the silent movies of Keaton or Chaplin... And WHY, Matt, just WHY? Didn't you read the script or are you just another good school boy? Pathetic... I give it 5 out of 10 on leaving me indifferent and seriously underwhelmed. America needs an age of enlightment, so Go Bernie... ☺

On paper, The Good Shepherd is a can't miss film. I mean how could you go wrong with a film about the beginnings of the C.I.A., directed by Robert De Niro, and starring multiple Academy Award Winners? I was really excited about finally sitting down to watch this three hour epic, the critics raved about, but sadly, it the case of the Good Shepherd, it was the user reviews that were spot on. Matt Damon portrays one of the C.I.A.'s top agents, a man whose life revolves around his work. The story is based on an investigation into what went wrong during the Bay of Pigs invasion, while at the same time flashing back to how Damon's character got his start in the spy agency. We see everything from his childhood trauma's to his recruitment in college, his actions in World War II, and everything else he did leading up to the Bay of Pigs. Matt Damon was absolutely the perfect choice to play Agent Edward Wilson, as his natural personality was a perfect fit for the characters. If Damon wasn't good enough, he's surrounded by a cast of Hollywood legends that any film would be hard pressed to duplicate, so why the low rating? Even the premise of the film was excellent, but it's downfall is in the story itself. The Good Shepherd is over three hours long and easily feels like it was double that, as the film moves at an absolute snails pace. While the story and the actors were phenomenal, the film itself is done in such a way that it's one long conversation after another, with little if any action in between. Every time an angle is built up, we're sent to the other part of the story and simply have to assume the conclusion, without actually seeing it. The lack of resolution wasn't the only issue, as the film's large cast comes back to haunt it. There are so many people in this movie that are all dressed the same, who all act the same, and who all look the same. I couldn't keep track of who was who. While the Good Shepherd has the makings of an award winning film, the truth is that everyone behind the scenes blew it. This film is much too long, much too slow, and much too confusing to ever be enjoyable, and personally I think it is one of the biggest disappointments to come along in a very long time.

I was a very late getting around to watch to this. I had heard all the rave reviews and thought it was going to be an epic. I decided to see it on VOD over the holiday. Boy, I wish I hadn't. This was a huge disappointment. It was an over-long boring watch. Yes it was stylish, yes it had a great impressive cast, yes, it had great acting, yes it was beautifully filmed and yes it had a huge budget, but it was over-inflated and self indulgent. The characters were one-dimensional and lifeless. The plot was dense and over-complicated. It was difficult to watch, like wading through treacle. Never once did it draw me in. I was not gripped by any part of the plot and I hardly managed to get through it. Matt Damon is a great actor, but his character remains blank and dull and too young to be convincing in this. I just was left feeling blank myself.

The story uses back and forth story flow very nicely in building the background story completely and at the same time focus on the issue at hand. The espionage details are depicted and presented very nicely through the extensive help from the camera angles and zoom plays. I must say I was amazed to see so many big names performing greatly in this movie. Matt Damon performs greatly here, going out of the Bourne espionage character that made him famous, into one that is non operative yet still demands at least the same attention to detail. Angelina Jolie managed to pull out the balancing side for the story. Michael Gambon and Alec Baldwin also did well in filling in the shoes of those characters that don't take much duration.