| The C.I.A. is a badass organization, or so the myth goes.
And to some extent that notion has never been fully extinguished: the idea of rigorously trained super-spies gallivanting around with the fate of the world resting in their hands is a hard one to give up.
For everyone who has ever dreamed of being James Bond, The Recruit offers a tantalizing and enjoyable thriller about the path to becoming a secret agent.
Up-and-coming star Colin Farrell (Minority Report) stars as James Clayton, a handsome, athletic, cocky computer genius who seems exactly like the kind of kid Uncle Sam would love to send into the field. Prepped to take a cushy desk job at a computer firm, James’s plans are waylaid after a visit from Walter Burke (Al Pacino), a fast-talking agency recruitment officer.
After a few lines about the kid’s dead CIA-employed dad and a neat magic trick with the newspaper, the hot young thing is enduring the gruelling hazing rituals of "the farm," the government’s training ground for future operatives. The early morning jogs and multiple lie-detector tests are unpleasant but bearable. Nevertheless, the trainee reaches the brink with a Turkish prison simulation and the repeated attempts of the trainers to pit trainees against one another.
Compelled to work harder and do his best by a strange desire to please surrogate father figure Burke, James’s loose cannon is finally selected for the trickiest of missions: get close to his favourite female recruit (Bridget Moynihan), who is supposedly a mole, and find out who she’s working for.
Hence the spy games begin, as Farrell enters into a humorous but tricky cat-and-mouse game with his love interest, in which the line between fact and fiction, friend and foe, is completely obliterated.
A snazzier take on the enjoyable antics of last year’s Spy Game – which also paired a younger actor (Brad Pitt) with a screen legend (Robert Redford) – The Recruit is far-fetched, espionage fun.
Complete with an unexpected ending, the film keeps you on your toes throughout, with enough twists and turns to make the ride worthwhile. |
