The Recruit | ||||
Roger Donaldson Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht 2003 |
Duty, trust and betrayal are weapons of espionage in "The Recruit," director Roger Donaldson's jumpy, nicely constructed, well played thriller about the trials of a young man recruited for the CIA. James Clayton (Colin Farrell of "Minority Report"), a computer whiz and all-around athlete straight out of M.I.T., is approached by CIA handler Walter Burke and convinced to sign up for spy school. Burke, played with wit, toughness and shades of gray by the fine-tuned Al Pacino ("Insomnia"), will also be Clayton's instructor during the Agency's exhaustive training period. Despite Clayton's skill and eagerness, he finds the course more intimidating and confounding than he ever feared, especially when he finds himself enamored of lithe fellow recruit Layla (Bridget Moynahan). The period of instruction is brutal. Much worse are the conundrums Clayton needs to unravel when the lessons are over and he must survive in the field. Burke keeps repeating the agent's axioms, "Trust no one" and "Nothing is what it seems." Even if you keep his words in mind when watching "The Recruit," the movie throws you a few nifty curves before it's all over. | |||
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