The Good Shepherd
1 Oscar Nominations
Rent/Purchase
Edward Wilson, the only witness to his father's suicide and member of the Skull and Bones Society while a student at Yale, is a morally upright young man who values honor and discretion, qualities that help him to be recruited for a career in the newly founded OSS. His dedication to his work does not come without a price though, leading him to sacrifice his ideals and eventually his family.
What critics thought
De Niro's CIA origins epic divided critics sharply: admirers found it an unusually authoritative and emotionally complex portrait of institutional secrecy, while detractors called it a self-serious slog that mistakes slowness for weight. Matt Damon's deliberately affectless performance was the single most contested element — some read it as disciplined internalization, others as simple blankness.
“Damon, in his second major role of the year (after The Departed) once again demonstrates his ability to convey emotional reserves, to animate a character from the inside out and create a man we can sense has more of an interior life than he is willing to let on.”
Kenneth Turan·Los Angeles Times
“For the film's mesmerizing first 50 minutes I thought De Niro might pull off the Godfather of spy movies ... Still, even if the movie's vast reach exceeds its grasp, it's a spellbinding history lesson.”
David Ansen·Newsweek
“If you think George Tenet's Central Intelligence Agency was a disaster, wait until you see Robert De Niro's torpid, ineffectual movie about the history of the agency.”
Jim Emerson·Chicago Sun-Times
“The Good Shepherd is an original story about the C.I.A., and for the filmmakers that story boils down to fathers who fail their sons, a suspect metaphor that here becomes all too ploddingly literal.”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
Genres
Drama, Thriller, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorRobert De Niro
StarringMatt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt
ComposerBruce Fowler, Marcelo Zarvos
The Good Shepherd
1 Oscar Nominations
Edward Wilson, the only witness to his father's suicide and member of the Skull and Bones Society while a student at Yale, is a morally upright young man who values honor and discretion, qualities that help him to be recruited for a career in the newly founded OSS. His dedication to his work does not come without a price though, leading him to sacrifice his ideals and eventually his family.
What critics thought
De Niro's CIA origins epic divided critics sharply: admirers found it an unusually authoritative and emotionally complex portrait of institutional secrecy, while detractors called it a self-serious slog that mistakes slowness for weight. Matt Damon's deliberately affectless performance was the single most contested element — some read it as disciplined internalization, others as simple blankness.
“Damon, in his second major role of the year (after The Departed) once again demonstrates his ability to convey emotional reserves, to animate a character from the inside out and create a man we can sense has more of an interior life than he is willing to let on.”
Kenneth Turan·Los Angeles Times
“For the film's mesmerizing first 50 minutes I thought De Niro might pull off the Godfather of spy movies ... Still, even if the movie's vast reach exceeds its grasp, it's a spellbinding history lesson.”
David Ansen·Newsweek
“If you think George Tenet's Central Intelligence Agency was a disaster, wait until you see Robert De Niro's torpid, ineffectual movie about the history of the agency.”
Jim Emerson·Chicago Sun-Times
“The Good Shepherd is an original story about the C.I.A., and for the filmmakers that story boils down to fathers who fail their sons, a suspect metaphor that here becomes all too ploddingly literal.”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
Genres
Drama, Thriller, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorRobert De Niro
StarringMatt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt
ComposerBruce Fowler, Marcelo Zarvos
Rent/Purchase