A well-acted drama about the genesis of the CIA and the zealous patriots who made it into a powerful agency animated by fear and paranoia about our enemies and distrustful of everyone.
Comment
12/26/06
The Good Shepherd (2006)
56
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:161
Fresh:90
Rotten:71
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: This fictitious CIA origin film is an overlong, tedious effort that leaves viewers with more questions than answers.
Runtime: 2 hrs 48 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $59,839,040
Synopsis: With THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Robert De Niro (A BRONX TALE) makes an ambitious return to the director's chair. A labor of love for Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (FORREST GUMP), the film tells an... [More]
Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci, John Turturro
Director: Robert De Niro
Reviews for The Good Shepherd
61 - 80 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
It makes a little noise about what might take place under the radar in a democracy.
12/23/06
Patient viewers will find much to appreciate in this chilly yet absorbing drama.
12/23/06
...solid and thoughtful but relatively unexciting -- the kind of film that's more admired than loved.
12/23/06
The film purports to tell the inside story of the first 20 years of the CIA, but Damon's Bourne movies are more realistic spy stories.
12/22/06
Much like screenwriter Roth's Munich, takes a complex set of issues and provides an angled illumination that doesn’t easily let the viewer off the hook.
12/22/06
A rich, complex and galvanizing look at the CIA. DeNiro has crafted a near-epic and first class film that engages us with its scope, multi-layered plot and brilliant cast.
12/22/06
The mesmerizing espionage thriller chronicles the inception and ascendancy of the CIA.
12/22/06
Top CriticRobert De Niro's icy drama, from Eric Roth's densely researched original screenplay, unfolds over the course of two decades and traces the history of modern-day spycraft.
12/22/06
It's like watching a fish stare at you from inside the magnifying wall of an aquarium, and about as exciting.
12/22/06
It's a long (nearly three hours), deliberately paced film, and an intelligent one.
12/22/06
Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd is a remarkable study of the corrosive effects of fear and power on an establishment insider who puts duty above all else.
12/22/06
The Good Shepherd does contain occasional tense moments and threatens, at points, to blossom into an actual thriller. But instead, it remains a character study of a character who is frustratingly hard to read.
12/22/06
Damon is solid as usual, but as the film rolls into hour three, his inscrutability starts to feel less like a personality trait than an unwillingness to develop the character.
12/22/06
A smart, multilayered espionage drama.
12/22/06
Handsomely crafted and impeccably acted by an all-star cast, this quietly riveting and meticulously detailed film presents a fascinating portrait of Cold War-era espionage.
12/22/06
A cool-headed thriller, and a richly detailed character study that traces the birth and evolution of America's foreign espionage bureaucracy, The Good Shepherd also marks a significantly more mature, assured directing turn from Robert De Niro.
12/22/06
The movie is carried by Wilson's professional relationships, propelled by an able supporting cast.
12/22/06
Director Robert De Niro's no frills approach to spying is probably a more realistic one, but not always as interesting.
12/22/06
It's a perfectly paranoid world that director Robert De Niro chronicles in this patient, methodical thriller.
12/22/06
Latest News for The Good Shepherd
July 07, 2008:
De Niro Looking for More Good Shepherds 
It played to lukewarm reviews and middling box office, but Robert De Niro still wants to follow up The Good Shepherd with a pair of sequels. More...
March 04, 2008:
Rush Hour 3 Takes '07 DVD Rental Crown
It may not have been quite the box-office phenomenon that its predecessors were -- and critics may have disliked it enough to keep it down at 20 percent on the Tomatometer --... More...
December 20, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Five New Films Fight For Holiday Cheer
Moviegoers are in for a feast as studios will unleash a wide menu of new options on Friday trying to reach holiday patrons on the weekend before Santa comes to town. With so... More...
January 15, 2007:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: "Stomp" Steps All Over New Releases
Stomping into the number one spot over the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend was the college dance drama "Stomp the Yard," which grossed an estimated $22M in... More...
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