The Recruit

The Recruit is a pretty fun little spy film. Colin Farrell plays James Clayton, a smart young MIT grad who gets recruited by the CIA. Most of the film deals with his experiences at the infamous Farm. Where CIA kids are trained in espionage and assorted other nifty stuff. Anyhow, Clayton does pretty well until one specific test goes badly. Clayton gets washed out of the program, or so we’re led to believe. Soon enough he is approached by his controller Walter Burke played by Al Pacino. Clayton is drawn into the spy game as a super deep cover guy, called a NOC. But Clayton’s first mission seems to have more in store for him than he’s expecting. As Pacino keeps reminding us, with this film nothing is what it seems.

Well, the plotline isn’t overly original but it’s still a good story. Spy stuff is always fun, even if most everything was pretty predictable. Honestly, it really shouldn’t be obvious to us how spies work. I mean they’re spies! In a way, if a spy movie is predictable it isn’t doing its job too well. Spies would never use movie clichés, they’re clichéd!!! Aside from that minor quabble the story is pretty entertaining, nothing groundbreaking but still fun.

The film is kind of gritty and it suits it well. Spy stuff looks good in the winter, when things are wet and snowy. It seems to add an edge or something. Some scenes we’re kind of darkish, but I suppose this is espionage and that can’t really be helped. I liked the look generally but nothing really stood out. There wasn’t too much action, just double-crossing thrills. The mystery and plot is the real draw for a film like this. I’d guess that most of the money went into the actors salaries, which is fine by me as I liked the way the film looks as it is.

Pacino and Farrell are a very good cast for a film like this. It’s a strong, if obvious, script, and both actors are right in their element. Pacino works well as the mentor CIA operative, much better than his cop roles. And Farrell is pretty much a golden boy these days, everything he touches is just plain good. Not much way to argue that one. He’s very watchable in everything. Once again giving a very nice performance here, I thought this film worked so well because although Farrell has that action star look, he also projects a great vulnerability that feels very real. Nice job by both actors.

The film was directed by Roger Donaldson the man behind a sorted grab bag of thrillers and thinking action films like Thirteen Das, Dante’s Peak, and Species. He does a decent job here, I liked the package as a whole. Yes a number of spy movie clichés were invoked. But it is a spy film, you can’t be too hard on him for that. He made a cool spy flick that’s easy to watch and has a solid script. You can’t ask for much more with a genre picture like this. Not great, but all around good.

This is a cool, easy film with a good cast and a solid script. If you like spy films, but are tired of the Bond style spectacle you’ll like this movie. It’s just a really good movie. Not film, not high art, and not matinee movie fare, but a really decent, fun movie; that you won’t have any problem enjoying.