The Recruit
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Movie Reviews of The Recruit
Movie Review: Sometimes things are better than they seem
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a movie that I initially passed over, always finding something else to buy or borrow (as I don't steal), until I happened to catch the ending on television late one night.
By the next evening it was in my possession, and despite having already watched the ending, I found it to be a surprisingly enjoyable experience.
Al Pacino aced his role as Walter Burke, CIA trainer extraordinaire, and he's not a guy I would ever want to play poker with, even if I did play poker.
Colin Farrell's performance is pretty much like his other movies(except maybe "Alexander", but I haven't seen that yet, and I hate his blonde look), but he really does a great short, dark and handsome, tortured and persecuted thing. This time he's out of the phone booth and using his cell phone, whizzing through movie-style computer gibberish as James Clayton, the star recruit of the latest batch of CIA trainees.
Bridget Moynahan gives much the same performance as she does in "I, Robot", playing it smart and sassy with a real cute pout, and a concerned wrinkle.
Surprises and twists abound, and though you know it's all faked, and nothing is what it seems, it still draws you in. In retrospect, the ending really is the silliest part of the movie, the moral of the story being to sit down and relax whenever you see red dots before your eyes.
Amanda Richards, January 9, 2005
Movie Review: Nothing is as it seems
Summary: 4 Stars
The Recruit is an entertaining adventure/thriller about a young CIA operative. Recruited by Walter Burke, a veteran operative, James Clayton goes to "the farm" and learns the ways of the CIA. The movie follows him through his trials and tribulations and then later when he is put out in the field. His mission involves a fellow student, Layla Moore, who he is obviously attracted to. There are twists and turns at every corner in this exciting movie. The story is well told with enough deception and action for all action fans. As Pacino puts it," Nothing is as it seems."The cast in this movie is very good. Al Pacino is great as CIA recruiter, Walter Burke. He plays the role perfectly as he always does. The viewer can never really tell if what he is saying is true because of his ambigious delivery. Colin Farrell is pretty good as James Clayton, the promising young CIA recruit. Bridget Moynahan gives a good performance as Layla Moore, the love interest of Clayton and also part of his objective. The DVD is okay at the best. There is a widescreen presentation, interesting documentary about the CIA training program, and four deleted scenes( they're deleted for a reason). The movie is a fast-moving adventure that tries to show the background of the Central Intelligence Agency. There are plenty of twists that should have you guessing until the end. Worth a rent if nothing else.
Movie Review: No Way Out
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Recruit" could finally be the film that makes a star of Colin Farrell. If it doesn't, it won't be that all concerned didn't give it the old college try, for he is given the major star treatment in this smart, fast paced, mostly coherent thriller.Colin has been buffed-up, polished, hair-do'd, light as well as Reese Witherspoon or Kate Hudson and costumed so as to look as cool and attractive as possible. It also helps immensely that he has Roger Donaldson as his director, for it was Donaldson who made a star of Kevin Costner in the similar themed "No Way Out" in the late 1980's.
"The Recruit" has all the requisite plot and plot twist bells and whistles to make it fun, but it is ultimately lightweight material especially in comparison with Doug Liman's sublime and world-weary" The Bourne Identity" of last year.
Al Pacino's role as Walter Burke, James Clayton's (Farrell) recruiter into the C.I.A is a walk in the park for him but he manages to squeeze some resonance and believability out of, what for him, is a stock role.
"The Recruit" is a groovy way to spend a couple of hours, as Donaldson knows how to make this type of material interesting and believable. But ultimately it is Farrell who triumphs in the most complicated, ironic and multi-layered performance of his young career.
Movie Review: An engaging and fun post-Cold War spy thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
While not the success "The Bourne Identity" was, "The Recruit" is a fun and involving spy thriller set in the post-Cold War era -- something so many spy films haven't been able to successfully pull off.Pacino predictably chews up all the available scenery as a CIA recruiter, and Farrell is the MIT grad with the deus ex machina software recruit of the title. The film spends a little time at The Farm (the not-particularly-secret CIA training facility -- the counterpart to the FBI's training facility in Quantico) before moving to Washington, DC and an intrigue concerning one or more moles within the CIA and a not-as-complex-as-it-looks whodunnit mystery.
While there are a few wrinkles in this mystery -- who's the guy in the hooded jacket, for instance -- mostly the enjoyment of this film comes down to how they hit the fairly standard plot points, not which plot points they choose to hit. In the interests of keeping the plot moving, most of the training on the Farm was unfortunately cut -- watch the DVD extras for a glimpse at what is, perhaps, the most interesting part of the film.
A decent rental in the espionage genre, but not a must have purchase except for die hard fans of one of the principal actors.
Movie Review: A fairly nuetral treatment of the CIA here.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a mystery thriller without nudity, foul language, spurting blood, 8 car chases or long simulated sex scenes. It is NOT the typical anti-American diatribe or subtle assault against the CIA, a political party or the USA that we so often get from Hollywood. This is NOT typical Hollywood. 911 must have changed everything for many besides Ron Silver and Rosie. This movie is done as non-partisan and politically neutral and this is a big step for Hollywood!
This is a story of the recruitment into the CIA of a bartender who also graduated number one at MIT, and is an expert in software. The rules are laid down; nothing is as it seems, everything is a test and never get captured.
James Douglas Clayton, played by Colin Farrell, is recruited by CIA scout and a trainer at THE FARM, Walter Burke, played by Pacino. Burke tells James that he is a scary judge of talent, and that this judgment for talent is Burkes one true gift. James ends up as an operative of Burkes working at the CIA in Langley, famous for its Lilac bushes. There are plenty of twists and turns that keep you guessing, though my first guess as to where this was going was correct. Still it was a fun ride and I would watch it again.