The Good Shepherd - 7/10
The Godfather of spy films? It's certainly an ambitious film, covering the gestation of the CIA from it's inception in the build up to WW2 until the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Matt Damon plays an operative who is consumed by his secrets, which leads him to neglect Angelina Jolie, his wife, and his son. Robert de Niro, as well as directing, plays the founding figure of the CIA, who gives Damon's character responsibility for coutner-intelligence.
The film covers a wide variety of eras, scenarios etc. We see Damon 'betraying' his tutor while at college, working during WW2 in England, post WW2 in Berlin, in Latin America and in the Carribean. I tought Damon was superb, he came across very well as the all seeing but unfeeling spy. The sacrifices he has made for his profession are hinted at in the love story sideplot (Damon's character has to abandon his first love for Jolie after she falls pregnant to him).
Overall, the film is about secrets, truth and the affect that they have on people involved in them on a day-to-day basis. One criticismis that as it covers such a wide variety of characters over a long period of time it's difficult to get any depth, which I think is probably valid, although it depends on personal taste how important you think taht is. It has a fantastic cast - Damon is superb, de Niro plays his small cameo well, William Hurt is good, Alec Baldwin too.