I give it a thumbs up. It's good. It's intelligent and the subject matter was fresh (to me anyway. I'm not aware of other movies about the evolution of the CIA).
It has bits that make you stop and say, "Ah ha!" Like when they're at the formative stages of the CIA and talking about how they would never go so far as to invade the privacy of American citizens - but then you see the slippery slope of compromised principles.
HOWEVER . . .
It's long and pretty dry at times. It must have been three hours.
I also found it unclear in parts. I consider it a capital offense to spoil movies so I can't go into detail. All I will say is there were things that would happen and I would be thinking, 'I don't understand which side I am supposed to think is responsible for that. What is the motivation?'
I think I would need to watch the whole thing again to get the answers (but it's 3 hours long and dry and I don't want to watch it again.)
Another comment: although I have some admiration for Angelina Jolie in a humanitarian sense, I can't help but wonder if the acting thing is over for her. This was a very minor, wimpy role for her and, frankly, she was not good. I kept thinking, "That chick actually has an Oscar?"
But I am dwelling on the negative and it has considerable merit IMO. While I complain about the murkiness in parts of the story, I am sure that is an accurate reflection of the real world of espionage.
3 out of 5 stars from me.
It has bits that make you stop and say, "Ah ha!" Like when they're at the formative stages of the CIA and talking about how they would never go so far as to invade the privacy of American citizens - but then you see the slippery slope of compromised principles.
HOWEVER . . .
It's long and pretty dry at times. It must have been three hours.
I also found it unclear in parts. I consider it a capital offense to spoil movies so I can't go into detail. All I will say is there were things that would happen and I would be thinking, 'I don't understand which side I am supposed to think is responsible for that. What is the motivation?'
I think I would need to watch the whole thing again to get the answers (but it's 3 hours long and dry and I don't want to watch it again.)
Another comment: although I have some admiration for Angelina Jolie in a humanitarian sense, I can't help but wonder if the acting thing is over for her. This was a very minor, wimpy role for her and, frankly, she was not good. I kept thinking, "That chick actually has an Oscar?"
But I am dwelling on the negative and it has considerable merit IMO. While I complain about the murkiness in parts of the story, I am sure that is an accurate reflection of the real world of espionage.
3 out of 5 stars from me.
