The Good Shepherd
I finally got around to watching The Good Shepherd the other night. I'd had the disc from Netflix for quite some time, but the movie is nearly 3 hours long and I just hadn't gotten around to investing the time in it. (I rarely watch a movie unless I can watch it in a single sitting.)
I thought the movie was interesting, but a couple of the major plot points didn't resonate with me. It's possible I missed some key pieces of dialog because many lines were not delivered cleanly. It seemed like that was intentional, but if the mystery depends on the audience not understanding what was said, it's simply a poorly constructed mystery.
The plot problems I had:
Why did Wilson trust the fake Russian defector? Was it because of the British agent? Wilson seemed to have already decided to trust the Russian before they brought the Billy Crudup character in to meet him. And when confronted with the real Russian defector, he *still* trusted the fake. Was he denying the evidence out of pride? That just didn't work for me.
Why did he have to go to Africa himself to investigate the photo? Didn't they have agents?
I also didn't understand what was going on when he gave the coded dollar bill to Ulysses' assistant and mentioned "cardinal" near the end. Was that supposed to tell us that Ulysses' assistant was a double agent for the US? That doesn't make any sense at all, or else Wilson wouldn't have been caught with his pants down.
Ultimately, I thought the movie was successful at evoking the mood and suspense it wanted, but the story itself was plodding and fell flat for me. I'd give it 2.5 stars out of 5. There's nothing exceptional enough about this movie to recommend it, especially considering the time investment required.
I thought the movie was interesting, but a couple of the major plot points didn't resonate with me. It's possible I missed some key pieces of dialog because many lines were not delivered cleanly. It seemed like that was intentional, but if the mystery depends on the audience not understanding what was said, it's simply a poorly constructed mystery.
The plot problems I had:
Why did Wilson trust the fake Russian defector? Was it because of the British agent? Wilson seemed to have already decided to trust the Russian before they brought the Billy Crudup character in to meet him. And when confronted with the real Russian defector, he *still* trusted the fake. Was he denying the evidence out of pride? That just didn't work for me.
Why did he have to go to Africa himself to investigate the photo? Didn't they have agents?
I also didn't understand what was going on when he gave the coded dollar bill to Ulysses' assistant and mentioned "cardinal" near the end. Was that supposed to tell us that Ulysses' assistant was a double agent for the US? That doesn't make any sense at all, or else Wilson wouldn't have been caught with his pants down.
Ultimately, I thought the movie was successful at evoking the mood and suspense it wanted, but the story itself was plodding and fell flat for me. I'd give it 2.5 stars out of 5. There's nothing exceptional enough about this movie to recommend it, especially considering the time investment required.