Customer Reviews

The Recruit [VHS]

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Al Pacino may not be the most versatile actor in the world, but he is a good actor; and, he proves it in this movie.

Al plays a 'scout' for the CIA looking for a few good spies. He finds bartender and computer hacker extraordinaire (how's THAT for a double career) played by Colin Farrell. The first spy talent seems to be keeping your 5 o'clock shadow exactly the same throughout the entire movie. :)

Colin and several other spy wannabes are chosen and sent to a training camp called 'The Farm' where Colin meets a delicious recruit played by Bridget Moynahan (NOTE: calling them by their character names just slows me down). Bridget quickly learns the spy trait at crying at the drop of a hat.

Without blabbing off too much more of the storyline, Al gives Colin an assignment that prepares him quite well for the life of a CIA agent.

There are several plot twists in this movie but not so many that it gives you a migraine. About the only thing that does is the constant verbal reminder in the film that "nothing is as it seems".

Overall, great acting all around and very good action scenes. The PG-13 rating is well deserved since it isn't overly bloody or violent.. i.e. it isn't going to put an idea into your teenager to go out and do something stupid.

Movie warnings: almost but not quite nudity (backless Bridget in a shower scene), sex with WAY too many covers, and profanity (mostly by the audience complaining about the covers).

Is it worth seeing? For matinee prices, definitely. For evening prices, yes, if you're into thriller movies.

And, just like in the movie, "PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES." :)

"The recruit" is like this: Collin Farrell is James Clayton. He's graduated top of his class in MIT, he's a computer wizard, he's developed a revolucionary software and he's currently working as a bartender in Boston. Hmmm. Al Pacino is Walter Burke, a CIA recruiter and instructor who claims to have an eye for good talented fresh spies. So, Walter Burke recruits James Clayton to work with CIA.

At some point of the movie, Al Pacino's character says: "Nothing is what it seems". This is what "The recruit" is about. Deceiving. Of course, it's a good thriller, lots of action scenes, interesting psychological (even if it's very shallow) aspects, a love affair between two of the main characters, a good car-chase scene, etc. Even so, the script is very formulaic, following a pattern that has done well previous times. There are plot twists every time, but every time you see them coming.

Colin Farrell seems to be the star of the moment. Although in this movie the producers tried to fix him an image of never-shave-bad-boy-baby-face, he's competent and talented, giving credibility to his scenes. Al Pacino has to take care: he's starting to repeat himself. His character Walter Burke is like his character in "Donnie Brasco", "The insider", "Carlito's way", etc. But, still, his mere presence is motive to watch this movie. This is Bridget Moynahan's most-time-on-screen movie, and her career should get going well if she keeps it like this.

There are a lot of plot-holes and things that make the viewers role their eyes, so this is the "put your brain in neutral" kind of movie.

Watch and have fun.

Grade 8.0/10

Al Pacino delivers another great performance as a veteran CIA operative tasked with scouting and training young agent hopefuls. He recruits a MIT computer genius played by Colin Farrell. Colin is sent with other agent hopefuls to the CIA training facility known as the farm. Here they learn the basics of espionage, weapons, and survival. Only the best are selected to go on as CIA agents while others are weeded out. In the course of his stay at the farm, Colin falls for another agent recruit played by Bridget Moynahan. This is the type of movie that has a lot of plot twists, so too deep of an explanation could ruin the surprise. Suffice it to say that "nothing is as it seems". If you like spy thrillers and/or are a Pacino fan, this movie is recommended.

A Film by Roger Donaldson

The Recruit is a film about the CIA and a training facility called "The Farm". Walter Burke (Al Pacino) is a teacher at The Farm and is trying to recruit James Clayton (Colin Farrell) to join the CIA. Clayton is intrigued both by how Burke sells the CIA and also because Burke claims some knowledge about Clayton's father (who disappeared/was killed in 1990). Clayton goes along for the ride and the first half of the movie is the training at the Farm.

The first half of the movie (barring the first 5-10 minutes) is by far the best of the movie. If the quality would have held up, this could have been a great movie. During the training we meet Layla (Bridget Moynahan), who may or may not be a spy. Burke tells Clayton early in the movie that nothing is as it seems. If we keep that in mind we have to accept that anything we are presented is a lie. This makes the first half of the movie very interesting but also makes the second half of the movie fairly conventional. Nothing is really wrong with it, but nothing is really right with the second hour. There are a couple of twists that aren't really unexpected, but nothing too spectacular.

Here's the bottom line: I enjoyed watching the movie, but it was ultimately empty and forgettable. Al Pacino gets to give a nice speech (a wonderful, but typical Pacino explosion), and everyone does a good job, but the movie is just lacking...I think it is lacking any kind of real story. If you want to see a better movie in this genre, see Spy Game. It's a much better movie.

Al Pacino plays a CIA agent who recruits James Clayton (Colin Farrell) because he's a highly intelligent prospect. Also, Clayton's father was in the CIA. Clayton falls in love with Layla. She is another candidate he meets while in training. She is supposedly a mole try to access information and Clayton is assigned to follow her.

I thought this was a highly entertaining movie and I had fun trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Anyone who likes spy movies or thrillers will more than likely enjoy this film.

The theme of a grizzled mentor and a hyper-energetic but gullible new recruit is a somewhat dated one (in recent memory, Spy Game, Training Day etc) but I watched this movie with no expectations, and found that it does a fairly good job of being fastpaced and gripping.

What rides it above the predictability that could have drawn it down is its riveting pace. Glossy visuals are a plus too. The eminently watchable Pacino is no slouch in the charisma department as usual. Farrell merits a special mention, he maintains a credible dignity that lends a certain cachet to the movie, and his chemistry with Moynahan is searing.

Last but not the least, there are not-so-subtle references to recent CIA glitches, most likely 911 and Gulf War.

You'll probably not watch this flick more than once, but it's a decent rental for the first time. The extras on the DVD include some deleted scenes that reassured me that the movie is very well edited. Which helps.

Nothing is as it seems in this movie as Al Pacino plays a recruiter for the CIA who brings in Colin Farrell, playing a young computer programmer, to start a career as a new operative. The movie takes us through the training as well as other action as we see that recruits are tested as much mentally and emotionally, as they are tested physically.

As par for course, Pacino does a great job and has the audience believing his portrayal of the character. Just as the plot is multi-layered, Pacino's character, Burke, is just as multi-layered.

I would recommend seeing this movie. Although the gadgetry is not as you would see in a James Bond movie, it is fascinating seeing the training.

The Recruit is a better-than-average spy thriller that is able to exceed its relatively routine storyline. It succeeds due to the good writing and the acting of the two principal leads, Al Pacino and Colin Farrell.

Farrell plays an ace computer programmer haunted by the death of his father over a decade earlier. Pacino is a recruiter for the CIA who hints that Farrell's father may have been a member of the company. Farrell enlists and trains for field work; this recruitment and training takes up around half the movie.

The second half of the story has Pacino - one of the main trainers - recruiting Farrell for his first assignment, dealing with a mole within the Agency. Although some of the plot twists are foreseeable, others are less obvious, and if the ending wraps up everything a little too neatly, it is nonetheless satisfying.

In certain ways, this is a rather standard suspense flick, but as said before, it is the writing and acting that help it excel. Farrell holds his own with the veteran Pacino, and the rest of the relatively no-name cast also puts forth a decent effort. The Recruit is a solid four-star flick: not a classic but definitely a pleasant diversion.

There's really nothing wrong with "The Recruit". It held my attention throughout, thanks in no small part to the acting of Al Pacino and Colin Farrell - Pacino's acting chops are legendary and Farrell's someday will be - yet I never found myself completely enthralled. It was a solid thriller, better than the typical popcorn thriller, without being truly thrilling.

The storyline is fascinating - Farrell's character is recruited into the CIA by Pacino's character, and the film explores the themes of deception and suspicion. Whom can we believe? Who can be trusted? Is anyone telling the truth? Fascinating themes and ably explored, yet the conclusion isn't solid enough to sustain the intensity of the film's themes.

When James Clayton (Colin Farrell) is recruited into the CIA by a mysterious agent, Walter Burke (Al Pacino), he is quickly thrust into a world where deceit and manipulation are the only two constants -- a fact that is reinforced constantly at the Agency's training center aka "The Farm".

Clayton proves himself to be an exceptional trainee and catches the attention of his instructors but none moreso than Walter Burke, the head instructor and man with decades of experience in the field. Clayton is officially pulled from the program but later learns that he has been assigned to deep cover clandestine operations -- the first being to track down a mole within his own training class.

Plucked from training where "everything is a test", Clayton soon finds himself in the shadowy world where everyone is a potential mark and nothing is as it seems -- a world in which the "mark" really depends on whose side you're on. Spy versus spy versus spy.

Without a doubt, "The Recruit" is not only one of the best films I've seen in awhile, but one of the best spy thrillers I've ever seen. Both "Spy Game" and "The Bourne Identity" are movies I had great things to say about, but this movie takes it to a new level. I see a lot of movies, and many of them are great, but this is one of the few movies after which I left the theater feeling like I had just come off one of the best rides in the world.