You know The Recruit was on my list. Pacino, spies, even Colin Farrell. Took a few weeks to make time for it but finally got to a matinee this afternoon. Although the experience at the AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara was not good, as their idea of a bargain is $7.50 and they show ads before the movie (four of them, and very loudly) versus $6.00 with no ads at the Century 16 in Mountain View. Century just needs to improve their scheduling a bit, that’s all.
Anyway, the movie. Pacino is always great and he gives a good performance here. Not as over the top (Hoo Haa!) loopy as in Any Given Sunday or The Devil’s Advocate. Farrell is turning out to be quite the actor himself and I will be interested to see if, in 20 years, he is another Pacino or another Ford. Or the next Liam Neeson for that matter, since he’s Irish. Speaking of Irish, the hottie in this film is Bridget Moynahan and she’s competent but mostly just another attractive Hollywood space filler as best I can tell. She might be a terrific actress, don’t get me wrong, but the parts she’s taken until now won’t really let you know if that’s true.
What’s good about The Recruit is the twisty, surprising plot and the crisp action. Pacino, especially, keeps warning the other characters (and the audience) that nothing is as it seems, everything is a lie, and only believe the little voice inside your head. Perhaps a little too much of the 115 minutes is spent establishing Farrell’s character at school and in training at “The Farm” and I think this fault lays at the foot of Aussie directing vet Roger Donaldson (who did one of my long ago favorites, Smash Palace, before moving to Hollywood).
To a certain degree, the main action, the final 30-40% of the film, plays more like a really well made TV series episode, but really well made. If HBO did a dramatic spy series… that’s not a bad idea, actually, for someone in HBO’s original programming department to pursue, a series based around Farrell’s James Clayton. Anyway, overall I might compare the movie to Will Smith’s Enemy of the State for pacing and the idea of a man thrust into a powerful spy situation without much expertise.
Recommended
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