Film Reviews

The Recruit

• Rating:
• Director: Roger Donaldson
• Starring: Al Pacino
• Details: US / 105 mins / (15PG).

Somehow, in his busy schedule of boozing, cussin' and generally living it large, Colin Farrell occasionally manages to find the time to actually star in a movie. His latest, the CIA-themed by-the-book thriller The Recruit is pretty symptomatic of his career so far. Sleek, easy on the eye and diverting without being gripping, The Recruit ambles along - a decent but unremarkable picture, which doesn't inspire any particularly strong emotions.
Farrell plays James Clayton, a computer geek who finished top of his class at MIT with the world at his feet. Desperate to know more about his father who died in a crash when he was a teenager Clayton is seduced by a recruiter for the CIA, Walter Burke (Pacino), who implies that his pa may have been with the agency. Soon the rather naive Clayton has signed up for the CIA training programme where he encounters Layla (the impossibly foxy Moynahan). Yet there's little time for fun and games at 'the Farm' (the nickname given to the CIA's training facility). Burke is intent on weeding out the weak links in the food chain, while impresses the need on his students to question everything.
Fairly predictable stuff, The Recruit follows a well worn trail blazed by countless other genre pictures. Not overly concerned with making sense, The Recruit is slickly made but vacant fare, which never really displays an awful lot of conviction. In terms of performances, Farrell isn't bad - even if his character is underdeveloped - while Pacino weighs in with another of his demonically over the top turns. Like the film, it's not essential by any means.

Review by Garreth Murphy