The Good Shepherd is definitely not an action-packed CIA thriller on par with what we've seen from Matt Damon in the Bourne films and Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. The film is essentially about one of the agents in the beginning stages of the OSS and then the follow-up agency for non-wartime, the CIA.
Son of a high-ranking Navy official, the Matt Damon character is recruited to join Skull and Bones in university. Shortly thereafter, he's approached to join an new government organization to go overseas and watch things, do some spying, as world tensions heat up. This is 1939. At a private island owned by Skull and Bones, replete with cottages, our hero is introduced to a fellow S&B member's gorgeous sister, Clover, played by Angelina Jolie. She quickly takes a fancy to him and tries to seduce him, but even outright asks him if he has a problem with girls as he shows a lack of interest. Within moments, hormones take over and they get it on. There's no chemistry between them, however.
Meanwhile, he still has a girlfriend who he must either leave or stay with upon finding out that his tryst with Clover has resulted in her pregnancy. Within a week of the marriage, he's off to Europe to work for the new wartime spy agency, but keeps his career a secret from Clover. His son grows up for six years without knowing his dad in person. Junior grows up desperately trying to earn his dad's love while Clover finds herself in a loveless marriage.
There's a lot more to the film, including some very shifty Soviets, some of whom you have to be friends with rather than kill for inside information.
They make very little attempt to age Matt Damon and Angelina the 21 years or so that pass in the film. Junior grows up looking like a girly-man, which may have been a deliberate play on the stereotype that boys who grow up without fathers or strong male role models tend to have effeminate predispositions — although we see whether or not this is likely true, as well.
Article comments
1 - RJ Elliott
Hmm. A four-star box-office bomb?
2 - Triniman
In its opening weekend,it made $9.98 million in the US, good for fourth place.
Lots of four and five-star films bomb while lots of lousy films make a ton of money. Witness the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.
3 - RJ Elliott
Fair enough.
By why do you think it's not doing as well as it should, given the cast?
4 - Triniman
I think the film is doing as well as it could be expected to, given the overall story. A film gets its "legs" from audience feedback after the first week or so and the cast will draw some people to see it, but the cast won't reel in a big audience in the long run if the film's appeal is a bit narrow. Which it is, IMHO.
Bob Deniro has shown himself to be a promising director and I look forward to seeing more of his work.