The Recruit (2003)

What a waste of my time!!!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

****SPOILERS****Hard to swallow and even harder to digest spy drama that involves computer whiz kid James Douglas Clayton ,Colin Farrell, who attempts to join the shadowy C.I.A in order to find the truth about the fate of his dad who disappeared in the wilds of Puru some 13 years earlier while on a secret assignment for the agency. It's not known if Papa Clayton was killed kidnapped or even abducted by space aliens since the agency C.I.A he worked for has a policy of not releasing information of its personnel even to their immediate relatives like Popa's son James Clayton.It's top C.I.A spy Walter Burke, Al Pacino, who seeks out James for the job whom he feels, like father like son, he'll make a 1st class spoke-spy-for the agency. Going through the rigorous mental & psychical training for becoming a spook at the agency's Langton Farm James meets and falls in love with fellow spook Layla Moore, Bridget Moynahan, that seems to upset his controller Burke. It's Burke who suspects that she's in fact a spy for the other side-Russia China Iran or maybe North Korea- who's using her position to get important and critical computer information to the nation that she's spying for.***SPOILERS**** Like in most modern spy movie no one knows what's going on and on who's side their on their or working for until the films final moments. James who gets booted from the agency for cracking under pressure finds out later that he in fact passed with flying colors. Given a menial job as cover by his controller Burke at the agency emptying out ash trays and garbage cans James is told to keep an eye on Layla who's suspected of being a mole for the outer side. It's later that James finds out the truth and that leads to him also finding out just who the mole is that really is no surprise to anyone in just how crazy, just get a load of his reasons for selling out his country are , and obvious he is. As for James' Pop he in the end finds out what really happened to him as well as the person he was involved with who may have set him up for the kill.

"James Douglas Clayton" (Colin Farrell) is a computer genius who has just graduated from M.I.T. and is looking for a job. Although he is initially interested in working for Dell Computers he gets an unexpected visit from a C.I.A. agent named "Walker Burke" (Al Pacino) who convinces him to join them instead. Not long afterward he is sent to a training facility known as "the Farm" where he is taught all of the techniques necessary for espionage. Unfortunately, he cracks under pressure and is dismissed. At least, that is what he is led to believe. Then one day Walter Burke stops by to give him an extremely important assignment involving a possible mole within the C.I.A. who is apparently passing on top-secret information to a foreign government. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although it has some decent action and suspense, it is the element of mystery included in this film that makes it so interesting. Likewise, the acting of Al Pacino and Colin Farrell are also added bonuses. In any case, I found this movie to be fairly enjoyable and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The Recruit (2003): Dir: Roger Donaldson / Cast: Colin Farrell, Al Pacino, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht, Kenneth Mitchell: Total mind game where viewers are sent through the same sort of manipulation as the hero. The title seems to suggest recuperation of our past. Colin Farrell seeks answers regarding his father who was a C.I.A. agent who died in 1990. An encounter with Al Pacino has him asking more questions but instead he is trained as a C.I.A. agent. He assigns Farrell to find out who a fellow trainee is working for and from there he is led deceit, betrayal and near death situations. Setup gives backgrounds then the screenplay delivers numerous effective plot twists until unveiling a mindless conventional climax. Directed by Roger Donaldson after having directed such crap as Species and Dante's Peak. Farrell presents emotional confusion and frustration as he is sucked into the past. He survives out of luck and intellect. Pacino succeeds as a connection to the past who tests Farrell for a mission that will reveal certain people as something other than what they are presenting. Bridget Moynahan makes a great impression as a female recruit whom Farrell is ordered to follow. The romantic elements are obvious. Gabriel Macht is too brief as a trainee, and other roles are pretty much standard issue for this sort of film. Plays like an episodic crime show and that's not a compliment. Score: 5 ½ / 10

This isn't a senseless spy action movie ("à la" James Bond) but rather a very enjoyable psycho-thriller. The fact that reality is never what it seems is particularly evident here and I felt that sometimes the script was very PKDish in this way. The movie is remarkably effective to show how can anyone be turned on: just say the things the "target" wants to hear. Here, Farrell is desperately in need of a father and Al delivers a brilliant portray: Now that his time of his young reckless is finished, he can be moving as a patriarchal figure. Farrell isn't bad either but like him, my eyes were made all opened for Bridget (except maybe for her red hair) and it's a pity that her career stopped brutally. I'm a bit surprised by the lack of security inside the "company" but i remember also that this "company" housed a serious mole (see the case of A. A.). In conclusion, it's a really informative account of the spooks psychology and it helps understand why conspiracies are always hot.