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The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd Image
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Metascore
61 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 132 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro
  • Summary: The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life in this espionage drama. (Universal Pictures)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    100
    A remarkable study of the corrosive effects of fear and power on an establishment insider who puts duty above all else.
  2. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    100
    One of the most impressive movies ever made about espionage.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Kim Newman
    60
    Well-crafted and well-acted, but ever-so-slightly worthy and strangely unaffecting. Given the track record of the CIA, it probably ought to be angrier.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 83
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 83
  3. Negative: 19 out of 83
  1. Alexander_Fred
    10
    The Good Shepherd is very much a difficult film to understand. At first glance, it is over 2 and a half hours of boring, sluggish history tracing the early history of counterintelligence within the CIA. But upon second glance, the film emerges as something quite different. Is it at all entertaining? No. Is it at all thrilling? For brief moments. But all in all, the film is not meant to be entertaining or thrilling. It is meant to be what film once thrived to be: pure art. It becomes difficult when first seeing this film to see the artistic majesty because most of us have become accustomed to watching a monkey throw **** on a wall and then calling that art. The Good Shepherd becomes like the Mona Lisa, but we must first remember that the Mona Lisa is art and **** on a wall is just **** on a wall. Then we see that this film is perfect because it is art, a true artistic piece of cinema.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. TonyB.
    5
    Not nearly as good as some think it is and certainly not as bad as others see it, "The Good Shepherd" plods along at a snail-like pace as it jumps from one plot line to another.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. TomM.
    3
    A movie tracing the early origins and eventual development of what we now know as the CIA, with performances by Robert DeNiro, Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, William Hurt, and Alec Baldwin--including bit parts by Timothy Dalton and Joe Pesci--certainly appears to have the elements of a very promising and intriguing film that couldn't possibly miss. Yet, that's precisely what happens here. Muddled dialogue in scene after scene, baffling story structure, one serious case of miscasting (Eddie Redmayne as the main character's son), unreadable graphics, and film editing that must have been phoned in all combine for a major disappointment. Strangely, after I viewed it, I couldn't help thinking of Ted Williams, who many believe to be the greatest hitter of all time, yet he was a surprising flop as a manager. Could it be that DeNiro, who many consider our finest living actor, is doomed to the same fate when it comes to directing? Hey, Bobby, give Scorsese a call.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 83 User Reviews

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