The Good Shepherd follows a young, dedicated, and occasionally merciless fictional CIA agent named Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). Tracking his early years at Yale in the secret Skull and Bones society to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the film does more than just chronicle his life. Instead, the story follows the creation of the CIA and the murky morality that such a field required to get started. On paper that premise is prime real-estate for a gripping thriller.
Movies like The Good Shepherd (2006) are reminiscent of old-school Hollywood spy pictures. The action of the film is not gun fights, car chases, or explosions, but something different all together. Instead, the action in a film like this is the tradecraft of spies, which includes their many secrets. It’s best to make this distinction for those looking for a more action-centric story. If viewers are looking for something like that, The Good Shepherd will deliver a boring experience. Clocking in at 147 minutes, the film takes its time in portraying this history.
Screenwriter Eric Roth (The Insider; Munich; Dune; Killers of the Flower Moon) focuses on plot over action. The screenplay relies on the backroom government conversations, and political espionage that were a part of this time period. This includes cutting back and forth between Edward’s past at Yale where he was brought into this world and his presence at what will eventually be known as the CIA. As a fan of that subgenre myself, there are moments of The Good Shepherd that thrive in its tension. Unfortunately, those moments are counteracted with severe dull stretches in the bloated running time. Director Robert De Niro (A Bronx Tale) has an obvious fascination with this period in American history and it shows on screen. The problem is that he has so much history he wants to convey.
That is the biggest problem with The Good Shepherd as there’s just simply too much story. While it follows real history (even with a fictitious protagonist), there are several seriously repetitive conversations, particularly those regarding Wilson’s home life and relationship with his wife Margaret (Angelina Jolie). In these sequences, the film becomes nothing more than a clichéd soap opera with a repetitive argument between the couple causing the story’s momentum to be lost and the audience’s interest in the story to vanish. With this portion taking up the latter half, it makes The Good Shepherd grind to a halt.
The languid pacing of the film severely holds it back from reaching its potential. That makes for a frustrating finished product, particularly with the strength of Damon’s central performance. As Edward Wilson, Damon has to portray a journey of idealism amid the cold proficiency in spy craft. On its own merits, the performance is entirely captivating and something different than what audiences expect. In my viewing, the performance certainly helps keep the film from being a complete misfire. The role of someone this cold and calculated, played by an actor like Damon, plays with audiences’ expectations. The performance’s moral complexities deliver something wholly unique in the genre.
Even told through the eyes of a fictitious lead character, The Good Shepard offers an interesting piece of history. Accuracy of the history aside, it’s easy to see De Niro’s directorial passion in telling the story. In such moments The Good Shepherd manages to fire on all cylinders. The problem resides in the simple fact that the story has too much plot with too many characters. Alongside Jolie (Maria), actors like Alec Baldwin (The Departed), William Hurt (Dark City), Joe Pesci (My Cousin Vinny), and John Turturro (Do the Right Thing), to name a few, get engaging moments. While effective, they are so intermittent that they fail to make an impact.
The Blu-ray home release, The Good Shepard is rather bare bones, containing only 16 minutes of deleted scenes which do not justify a purchase. While interesting for filling in moments of characterization, particularly with actors like Hurt, it’s easy to see why these scenes were not included. That, unfortunately, makes this Blu-ray release of The Good Shepard a disappointment. Racked with great moments and a strong lead performance, the film never exists as more than a “good enough” history lesson. That dense history may work for some and justify a purchase, but others not as steeped in the lore can simply catch it on streaming.
The Good Shepherd Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes (16 min)
Available on Blu-ray March 24th, 2026.
For more information, head to the official Universal Pictures The Good Shepherd webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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