A film about how the CIA was formed out of dodgy dealings and shadey characters with vested interests. Tell us something we don't know. This film was a pancake disguised as a fancy crepe, with Jolie as the chocolate sauce that covered the banana that is Damon. DeNiro added one too many eggs into this mixture. He must of thought that by adding a bit of cheddar he would give it a savoury flavour, but instead we were exposed to too many cheesy moments. Too many cooks spoilt the pancake. (I fell asleep at one point, I might have missed the best bit).… Expand

To a teenager, this would be (and it is) an extremely boring movie. The movie focuses on one thing: a man and his boring life as a CIA operative. Although, it is intended for older audiences, but it doesn't please the action-movie goers who look for spy shootouts, automatic pick-ups of beautiful women, and, of course, a diabolical villain. Not a good choice to buy or rent. I made this mistake.… Expand

Very slow moving, confusing. While it has an impressive list of stars they are all rather wooden in their performances especially Damon whom I like a lot but not in this pic. He wanders through this film as a morose character wearing a felt hat and rain coat carrying a briefcase that looks almost too heavy. De Niro and Joe Pesce don't comprise 10 minutes of screen time. All in all, way too long. The only word that comes to mind to accurately describe this film is tedious.… Expand

Honestly, I've never seen so many people walk out of a movie. What a waste of a wonderful cast. Once again, I was fooled by the critics. They got my hard earned cash. I can save you all 3 hours of your life. Here's the entire film in 3 words. Trust no one. Go watch Departed or 007 for the second time instead.

As the movie got started and was immediately bad, I sat there thinking, what an odd story for Robert DeNiro, a man of limited intellect and scope, to direct. And the script is terrible. You can tell a lot of money was spent on the technical aspects and storyboarding and all, but it is corny, inhuman and nearly all the performances are poor. It's frightening to hear Damon sing the praises of DeNiro's direction in interviews and think he'll continue this approach in the future; because it nearly obliterated his talent. As a sidenote, having thought DeNiro's acting itself was of such poor quality these last years because he was phoning it in, it was stunning to learn that, even in a project you knew he would want to come off well, his acting is now bad.… Expand

This movie was boring, tedious, confusing, and slow. There, I said it. It's no thriller, and the drama is forced. The directing is horrible (2 words surrounded by 30 second pad of silence is not a dialog). The writing was painful. Instead of give us meaningful dialog, whenever there's a sex scene (roughly 4 or 5 I think) It always goes like this: him: stone faced her: "Do you want (stay/get a room)?" him: "Do you want me to?" her: "very much so" and then a brief sex scene. I don't mean to offend anyone, but this movie is for old people. The pace is slow, there is very little visual distraction or movement. It's based in the 40's and 60's, and did portray a lot of the "good ol days" when America was young and strong. After the movie was over, I looked through the theater and everyone was over 60 -- except me, at 26. Unless you're retired, think twice about watching this movie.… Expand

This was a terrible movie!! I have no clue what happened. I watch movies all the time and I can honestly say that this is only the second film that I found impossible to follow. The first was a David Lynch film! Dinero should stick to acting. If anyone can PLEASE tell me anything about what happened in this movie, I'd appreciate it.

This was a poor film and not worth the time and effort of following it (and before anyone says anything about my taste in films, my 2 favorites in the past year have been "Zodiac" and "Inland Empire"). It is beautifully shot, but it has no discernable plot; though it's oriented around a what-if concerning a CIA leak and the Bay of Pigs, most of the 3 hours is spent in tangents away from this storyline, to the point that you forget about it until you're reminded again. These tangents (the old college flame, is the defector who he says he is, Pesci's character) are presented as subplots, but they're all so abbreviated that none of them goes anywhere. A film like this can work if the characters are compelling; however, other than Damon, everyone in the film is on-screen so briefly that they feel like stick figures rather than human beings. And Damon, whom I usually like, plays his role with such emotional restraint that it's not clear that the events of the film have any effect on him. Insofar as the movie lacks a clear plot and fleshed-out characters, and that it asks you to identify with a protagonist who's both unlikable and improbably inhuman, it just doesn't work.… Expand

ZZZZZZ.... Sorry fell asleep just thinking about the boring movie. I just rented the DVD good thing they trimmed off the extra 16 minutes of yet another subplot or I would have wasted over 3 hours of my life. Angelina

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

Slow, boring. No action, very little suspense or intrigue. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen every interesting moment in the movie. Can sum up the story line in a sentence or two: Anyone who works for the CIA is evil/corrupt, or becomes evil/corrupt eventually if they work there long enough. That's what happens when you are overly patriotic, so beware of patriotism!

So over the top that it becomes laughable. Great acting, but the directing is trying way too hard. The silence as subtlety is so beyond the pale. You can almost hear the director shouting, "give me nothing." Angelina is great as usual, though under used. It left me wishing for the movie I thought I was paying to see. They keep trying for complexity and wind up with an almost laughable one dimensional baddness.… Expand

The film keeps changing pace by going back and forth as trying to mix up the viewer into thinking and trying to make some reasonable story that keeps you confused too find out what is going on. The only thing that is impressive is the control of Damons 'Poker" face. 8 Stars up for that. My opinion is that I should have saved my money and rented a funny DVD.

This movie is long and very slow paced. Though the movie has great intentions and a great cast, it is rarely engaging and walks the line between drama and documentary.

You know how some great films no matter how great they are feel too long at the 3 hour mark (except absolute masterpieces like The Departed and Almost Famous)? Imagine that film except it starts to drag at the 15 minute mark. This would have been absolute hell if I had to sit through it at the theater and I am so grateful I saw it on DVD and shut it off immediately.

An episodic mess with no central narrative thread and completely devoid of compelling characters. The actors deliberately underplay their roles and mumble through most of their lines, which are in turn drowned out by the wall-to-wall ominous soundtrack that's meant to be foreboding and ends up anything but. You can put a lot of talented actors on screen and throw money at them, but that does not guarantee a good movie. What a mess.… Expand

An intelligent spy film made without intelligence. There are numerous scenes and subplot lines that if they were cut would have improved the movie. The subplots really don't improve the main plot line, as do many of the characters. For its 148 minute running time, it asks too much and delivers too little. If it were cut to just under 2 hours, it would have been much better.

Why no mention of the milestone Mohammed Mossadegh overthrow in Iran? Matt Damon cast as the spy-master was a comical touch. Crispin Glover should have had that role.

Slow; frequent time shifting makes film a little hard to follow; key lines swallowed, so hard to understand; dim-lit scenes overdone; some parts illogical or irrelevant and movie thus too long; Damon character as portrayed not entirely credible

Great actors but about as inspirational to the viewer as watching moss grow on a rock.

Really lame. Angelina alone is great for 1/3 of the movie, and after that there is nothing credible or believable. All the stars could not save this dog. A slow, tedious, tale about characters none of whom are worth caring one hoot about.

Decent movie, but at times confusing and difficult to follow. Once this mvie comes to DVD nobody will understand it, as it is too long (3 hours), and you have to pay full attention to every detail of this movie or you will be completely lost.

Slooooow , great actors don't save a bad movie, but the worst isthat it's very antihistorical: Castro didn´t get or need an unlikely "leak" : U.S. government said they were going to invade, bombed Cuba and invaded two full days later and the invasion ships, (commercial banana cargos, white painted) took three days to reach Cuba!!!