Good Shepherd, The DVD Review

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"The Good Shepherd" reviews

DVD

The Good Shepherd

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-06-15 14:51:14

Provider

DVD Review

The pre and early days of the CIA provides the setting for the very human story of the organisation's formidable yet, calm and calculating Edward Wilson - played admirably by Matt Damon. If that doesn't sound like an attractive enough prospect, the movie co-stars Robert Di Niro, who also directed.

Edward Wilson appears as an anonymous, average, everyday American to most. In actual fact he is one of the key figures in creating the behemoth that is CIA - not 'The CIA' as one character opines… "you don't put 'the' in front of 'God'."

We meet Wilson as the Bay of Pigs fiasco is instigated by the USA. As an influential executor of the flawed invasion of Cuba it is the nadir of Wilson's career. However, time lapse storytelling takes us back to his school days and childhood, tracking back and forth though key highlights and traumas of his life and career - counter intelligence in WWII, a failing marriage and tempestuous relationship with his son, to lost relationships with his father and a girlfriend of his youth and meeting his opposing nemesis from Russian intelligence, code-named Ulysses.

Without ever breaking into flag-waving or salute The Good Shepherd is interspersed with Wilson's embrace by the USA's political and social elite, some groundbreaking spy work and, more surprisingly, some incredible espionage blunders.

Damon's performance is typically spot on while a refreshingly non-pouting Angelina Jolie is convincing as the increasingly distant wife. There's also a multitude of significant cameos no doubt attracted to the project by Di Niro's involvement.

Those who saw The Good Shepherd at the cinema, at almost 3 hours long, would be forgiven for thinking they've seen it all but there's an extra 15 minutes of deleted scenes here which are well worth watching - even if it's not totally surprising why they were omitted in the first place.