The Recruit (2003)

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

****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.

THE RECRUIT is a lame Hollywood thriller about a young CIA recruit whose first task is to find a mole in his own apartment. It's an example of the kind of over-obvious, join-the-dots plotting that these bland and generic Hollywood thrillers rely too much on, and apart from a slumming-it Al Pacino it has very little reason to tune in.Colin Farrell stars at the outset of his mainstream career and he's a big disappointment, especially considering the talent he brought to PHONE BOOTH. His character veers between being unlikeable and plain dull, usually the latter. Pacino is on autopilot throughout and the supporting cast are forgettable. The film hinges on a big twist which is obvious from reading the plot synopsis and sure enough it finally gets there after a very long-winded and bland series of twists and shoehorned-in action bits. THE RECRUIT is the kind of film you'll forget about just minutes after watching.

the recruit came out in 2003 directed by Roger Donaldson who has done some fine films like Dante peak the world fastest Indian so he knows how to do a fine scripted movie but he does this film well with the twist that catches you out unknowingly in this 1hr 55min of Action, Crime, Drama it's a slick finely crafted Hollywood thriller of trust, betrayal, deception and nothing is what is seems this one keeps going at a brisk pace with excellent editing and super soundtrack from Klaus Badelt of POTC1 fame .academy award winner Al Pacino plays Walter Burke has the eye for a good spy farming out new recruits can be a scary judge of character as nothing is what it seems as being recruited can get you caught in the betrayal Colin Farrell is an up and coming film star and buts a star turn here playing a young recruit and as all ways there a women involved Layla Moore Bridget moynahans character plays off Colin character very well indeed this film is a psychological it will got to your head James Clayton believes his father died going looking for oil in south America so he was told Walter Burke recruits him for his genius Walter Burke plays cat and mouse between Layla and James but as Walter finds out during training there is a mole he asks his brilliant young CIA trainee to help find a mole in the Agency but as they go out training there is an incident that changes the whole complex of the story I wont give away the twist but changes James outlook on his plan for Layla so as we see the CIA wont James back or so we believe . But just when James starts to question his role and his cat-and-mouse relationship with his mentor, Burke taps him for a special Nothing is what it seems.Yes the writers could have gone over their screenplay and given it another one-two and that may have raised the caliber another notch, but this is still good entertainment. It won't change your life, but it will be a well spent couple of hours.And it's true the movie could in theory have had a more sophisticated (ambiguous) ending, but there comes a time, after wading through all the trollop on the market, that one just sinks back and decides to enjoy a better movie for all it's worth.. Farrell - who actually comes off smaller than life what with all the tripe written about him, and that's not a bad thing - and former fashion model Moynahan make the sparks fly. You feel for the protagonists and that's an essential ingredient of any good movie.But Pacino: he's great at whatever he does but is he fated to have secondary roles now? Bah.There's a bit of a 'Spy Game' feel to things but there's no shameless copying going on. There just aren't many movies in this genre. And Spy Game doesn't have the thrill and suspense this one has. Yes, you might eventually figure everything out before the denouement, but you won't be upset. And odds are you won't figure everything out anyway - some yes; all of it - no. but as the suspense builds up in a maze of gripping turns there only two things he can count on he cant trust anyone because what he has been told may not be the truth and when he figures out it might be to late I gave this a 7/10 I saw this in the cinema its worth the watch

This one went under my radar in 2003, but I finally caught up on it the other day. And I must admit it was a pleasure to watch. I enjoy a good spy thriller, and this is up there among them.I saw it was a Roger Donaldson flick, and that's enough fir me. He's made some really decent movies, like "No way out", "The world's fastest Indian", "Thirteen days", "The bank job", "Cocktail", "The getaway". He's on the game.A young man, James Clayton (Colin Farrell) is targeted as a new CIA recruit by old CIA veteran Walter Burke (Al Pacino), which lures him interested because of his longing to know more about his long lost dad. Going through the training, he learns a lot, and seems to be one of the best, but will he succeed in becoming an agent? Will he succeed in finding out more about his father?What I like in particular here is the inventiveness which goes behind the CIA. I know it's not facts, but still I like the way it's told. The acting is plausible, yet there's some of the script hare which could have.been better. The film uses so much time in establishing the the recruitment, that the ending story is not that established. However it still a great thriller, which gives you enough to chew on.The main thing with a thriller like this, is to thrill, and this does, plenty. Al Pacino is good, Colin Farrell too, so are he rest. A good spy thriller, and a good thrill and fine entertainment.