Iconic actor and part-time director Robert DeNiro shows the downside of the counter-intelligence business as he brings together an all-star cast for a long-winded, but overall appealing look into the inner workings of the birth of the CIA. The movie delves into the struggle for national security and intelligence from the start of World War II through the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.

The movie focuses in on the life of one-time theatre and poetry student Edward Wilson (Matt Damon), and how his recruitment into the infamous secret society Skull and Bones landed him a top secret job within the U.S. government. The already distant to the world Wilson becomes even more distant upon his acceptance to the society and his increasingly cold demeanor will be perfect for the tales of paranoia and untruths he will have to endure over the next 20-odd years. Acceptance to the society subsequently sets the stage for his life, including an entrapping wife (Angelina Jolie) and a job which will keep him out of the country for over six years. His job takes over his life, leaving him with a wife who barely knows him and a son who barely recognizes him when he comes back from WWII.

During his covert struggle for intelligence, Wilson switches foils from the Germans in the 40s to the Russians in the 50s and to the Cubans in the 60s, all the while learning that he must keep secrets and deceive nearly everyone around him. About halfway through The Good Shepherd, you begin to realize that nearly every character in the movie has been screwed over by the government in some way, or is about to get screwed over by the pitfalls of lies and deceit running through the government.

With Shepherd, DeNiro creates an intricate method of storytelling that starts off somewhat slow, and then begins to pick up steam in the second half of the movie. At nearly 3 hours, the movie is at least 30 minutes too long, but wakes most people up in the second half with a storyline that is shocking, saving the movie in the process. DeNiro should have focused more on the back-alley deals between the Americans and other countries throughout the movie, and less on the failing marriage between Damon and Jolie.

Damon seems to phone in the first half of the movie, before showing some emotion and depth within his character. As his son becomes older, Damon develops paternal instincts and becomes his son’s keeper. The makeup artists could have done a better job with Damon in the movie; he looks exactly the same when his character is supposed to be 18 and when he is supposed to be in his mid-40s. Jolie keeps watchers too focused on her character’s crazy behavior to show any true depth to the role. Alec Baldwin and Billy Crudup do well in supporting roles as a FBI agent and a British intelligence agent, respectively. The movie also contains a pleasantly surprising, although unnecessary, cameo.

I am still curious how someone can go from acting and writing poetry, to understanding the inner workings of the most powerful government in the world. Perhaps Damon’s character was a pre-cursor to Michael Brown, the ex-director of FEMA; but it seems like Damon’s character had more success.

Even with the unlikely rise from poet to spy, The Good Shepherd reels us back in, just as we are about to count it out, and saves it from being just an over-wrought political diatribe.

GRADE: B-