Saw Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepherd last night. You know the one that brags about all the Academy Award winners and nominees in its trailers and commercials?
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I heard the movie was long at 2:40. Yeah that’s long but the movie looked great. And then it started. Overall, I liked the movie. It was well acted, fascinating and fairly polished. But immediately it started out of the gate rather slow. I’m not sure why DeNiro paced it so slow but it remained that way throughout the film. My only thought was the the De wanted to be Scorsese this time around. DeNiro is no Scorsese. In fact, he’s no McG. While the movie was good, the direction was fairly unnoticeable. And did I mention slow?
Matt Damon, however, was incredible. The role was an understated one and when big actors (that are good) can pull that off, the results are extraordinary. His character is a stone and nary a smile passes across his face. When it does, you register that something must be happening quite special for him to do so. Intense but quiet, Damon speaks volumes without saying much.
Angelina Jolie did well in a fairly thankless role. Why the hype of her in this movie I’m not sure other than by name but the role isn’t meaty enough. We are supposed to be impressed by her dramatic moments in which she’s good but they don’t stick. Meaning, this role could have been given to a lesser known actress just as well.
DeNiro, Pesci, Hurt, Gambon were all good but John Turturro really knocks it out of the park. I usually don’t like his work but he was strong yet frightening here.
I do think there’s some Oscar quality work here. If I had my way, I’d say noms for picture, actor, supp actress and either Turturro or Oleg Stefan as Damon’s formidable Russian counterpart. I was fairly surprised by his lackluster camera work listed on IMDB. I hope he gets more work after this film. I do think however that Eddie Redmayne who played Damon’s son as a young man is probably one of the worst actors I’ve seen in a while. Convincing? Never.
A possible screenplay nom for Eric Roth could be possible. The story is convoluted and nonlinear machinations kept me more off balance than intact but by the end, I still knew everything that was going on. During the movie, so many characters get introduced that I lost track and got frustrated. but it ties up nicely substantially rather than conveniently. This is the same guy who did Munich, Ali and Forrest Gump among many others.
But the Golden Globes missed it entirely. Hmmm
I would figure DeNiro would have picked up some tips on directing after all these years of doing film. Or maybe he was just playing it safe.
