This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Drama, G, True Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, John Turturro
Director: Robert DeNiro
If the plan was to lull each and every viewer to sleep, so the state secrets would not be revealed by the life story of CIA founder and chief, Edward Bell Wilson, then mission accomplished. Not a bad movie really, but just so ploddingly slow and monotone that it reminds me of a bad university lecture. I am a big fan of Matt Damon, but he just did not seem to know how to portray this man, so he adopted a wooden automaton personality. I don’t think he smiles throughout the entire movie. Neither did I.
In this story, Wilson is recruited into a secret society (the Bonesmen) in college and spends his entire life doing what he should do. Even his marriage to Clover Russell (Jolie) was founded in duty rather than love. Soon he is learning the intelligence business in Europe during WWII and moves up from there. The story is hurt by poor editing that leaves too many gaps in what is going on. As well, it takes place over a number of decades, but there is no clear way to tell what era you are viewing, since there is no discernable difference in Damon’s appearance. There are solid performances by several notable actors in small roles, but they are wasted in this muddled tale.
Matt Damon starring in a Robert DeNiro project and I didn’t like it. I still find that hard to believe, but this dry drama is only going to appeal to the most ardent history, and authentic espionage, fans, and maybe not even by them. So who will like it? No one will like it very much is my guess.
