The Recruit

    The Recruit
    2003

    Synopsis

    A brilliant CIA trainee must prove his worth at the Farm, the agency's secret training grounds, where he learns to watch his back and trust no one.

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    Cast

    • Colin FarrellJames Clayton
    • Al PacinoWalter Burke
    • Bridget MoynahanLayla Moore
    • Gabriel MachtZack
    • Karl PrunerDennis Slayne
    • Eugene LipinskiHusky Man
    • Mike RealbaRonnie Gibson
    • Domenico FioreInstructor #1
    • Ron LeaDell Rep (Bill Rudolph)
    • Jeanie CallejaCo-Ed #1

    Recommendations

    • 75

      Rolling Stone

      As a thriller, The Recruit is merely an entertaining ride. But remember: Nothing is what it seems. It's the subtext -- two actors from different generations faking each other out with skill and affection -- that counts.
    • 70

      L.A. Weekly

      Visibly uninspired, Pacino gives a perfunctory performance -- though surely he must have looked over at Farrell and been reminded of himself 30 years ago, all jacked-up and beautiful, like a stallion at the gate.
    • 63

      Chicago Sun-Times

      It's the kind of movie you can sit back and enjoy, as long as you don't make the mistake of thinking too much.
    • 63

      ReelViews

      There's nothing excessively problematical with The Recruit that excising the final fifteen minutes wouldn't cure.
    • 60

      Salon

      Just the latest forgettable thriller that might have been enjoyable if only its conclusion lived up to its windup.
    • 60

      Dallas Observer

      But by the end the audience, along with Clayton, has been jerked around so many times that it's almost too exhausting...By then, it's almost impossible to care.
    • 60

      Los Angeles Times

      No matter how seriously everyone works to make the CIA impossibly sexy, the illusion that these pencil pushers are incarnations of Bond, James Bond, is difficult to sustain.
    • 50

      Portland Oregonian

      For the most part it's a completely ordinary, completely familiar, professionally executed film. Nothing truly awful, but nothing unexpected, either.

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