ROBERT DE NIRO - MOVIE REVIEWS: THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Critics seem to regard Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd with respect. That's not to say they like it. Take, for example, Gene Seymour's review in Newsday, which concludes that the movie "absorbs without resonating, impresses without arousing." "The CIA is a fascinating creature, but The Good Shepherd is as impenetrable as the organization itself," concludes Matt Pais in the Chicago Tribune. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times writes that the film asks some hard questions about the nature of government intelligence, "but they are also too big, too complex and perhaps too painful for even this ambitious (2 hours, 37 minutes) project, which can only elude and insinuate, not enlighten and inform." On the other hand, Chris Vognar in the Dallas Morning News offers high praise for the movie. "It takes its audience's intelligence for granted and rewards it at every turn," he writes. And Stephen Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls the movie, "a cool-headed thriller."

22/12/2006