The story sounds good and full of promise. Somebody in the CIA leaked the Bay of Pigs plans to Castro. I'm in! That should easily fill 90 mintutes. Instead, it's just a series of random flashbacks about Edward. I wish it had stuck to the story. Oh well

Friend or foe, the O.S.S. will know. This is a brilliant depiction of the early days of the Central Intelligence Agency, through the eyes of a sinister and yet highly astute man, Edward Wilson played by the very intelligent Matt Damon. Damon's Harvard Ivy League education certainly didn't dampen his ability to play a Yale - Skull and Bones Society member recruited by an even more powerful agency in its inception.This is not a film for the impatient or weak and it's not a film for anyone lacking the historical knowledge of the era. There's nothing funny about it, it's deep, multi-layered and complex. It's morally challenging and through the eyes of Wilson you'll find yourself living through a dark period of deceit and espionage, you may have to watch this one twice.With an amalgamated A-list cast every performance is superb. There's a haunting feel to the film, an eerie and elusive plot that makes the viewer work hard to comprehend and appreciate it.-Eric Statzer

Disappointing. What else can you say about a film that is much less than the sum of its parts? Second-time director Robert DeNiro does a credible job with this story about the CIA and the inner rot and sickness that must result from an organization based upon secrecy and lies. But the story itself lacks drama as told.Sporting one of the greatest casts ever assembled, "The Good Shepherd" follows predictable plot lines and regurgitates the commonly accepted history of an organization that seeks to make laws, not follow them. How can you lower your expectations when a film features Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Gabriel Macht, Lee Pace, Joe Pesci, Eddie Redmayne, John Turturro and others?Damon's character, Edward Wilson, is at the center of every scene. He is played as a solitary, emotionally-detached, emotionless drone who feels more like a victim than a perpetrator. The plot is disjointed. And, perhaps more importantly, it lacks a point of view. Not that we need to be told what to think, but a film that lacks a consistent or comprehensive viewpoint is like a ship without a rudder: it will travel and it will arrive at a (random) destination, but the journey will reveal little except that winds blow.Edward Wilson certainly is a character buffeted by the winds, but they are mostly winds of unknown origin and hidden intent. It's a story that rings true, but it is uncompelling.

Just a quick observation (correction) on the synopsis for The Good Shepherd. In the past I could have posted this in our discussion forum that was taken away from us by the management. I still miss it. The author of the synopsis repeatedly used the term "videotape" in describing the recording that Edward Wilson finds in an envelope as opposed to the "audiotape" that was actually delivered. "Videotapes" in a home consumer format did not exist back in 1961. Prerecorded two-inch size videotape had to be played on an industrial sized Ampex VRX-1000 Mark IV four-head video playback system with additional stationary heads for the sound track. There is even a scene of Edward Wilson playing the "audiotape" on a reel-to-reel player. That's my 2 cents.