YALE student Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) is recruited to join the Skull and Bones brotherhood, before enlisting in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), under the aegis of General Bill Sullivan (Robert De Niro).

The knives are out for Wilson in April 1961 following the botched Bay Of Pigs invasion, designed to spark the overthrow of Fidel Castro.

"Somebody on your desk gave away the story," growls FBI agent Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), who recruited Wilson to the service. "Be careful - your name is on a must worry' list," he warns.

As the hunt begins for the traitor in the CIA's midst, The Good Shepherd rewinds to 1939, fleshing out Edward's formative years - his relationship with his father (Timothy Hutton) and the marriage to his friend's sister, Margaret (Angelina Jolie), who provides him with a son, Edward Jr. (Eddie Redmayne), to continue the family line.

The Good Shepherd is a meticulously crafted history lesson written by Eric Roth, which gives a fascinating insight into the period of intelligence and counterintelligence during the Cold War.

Director De Niro allows each narrative twist to unfurl in its own good time and art direction is impressive, elegantly recreating the era of paranoia and subterfuge.

Unfortunately, the ponderous pacing becomes a serious problem in the film's bloated middle section, which abandons discord in the marital home to consider Wilson's relationship with his English professor (Michael Gambon).

Damon's intense, internalised lead performance consumes the film and leaves little room for Jolie, who never gets beneath the skin of her embittered wife.

Damon Smith