Movie Reviews

I don't know if the CIA actually has any sort of top-secret spy training facility, but one exists in the world of The Recruit, and the first half of the film follows a group of students as they undergo their training.

The concept is interesting. I mean, who doesn't think it would be cool to learn how to use high-tech surveillance gear, how to outwit a lie-detector test, and how to kill a man in 237 different ways? I sure do. But aside from that, the film is a little corny (despite the 'seriousness' of one of the instructors, played by Al Pacino). Even if some kind of training facility existed, I doubt it would take place in the sort of classroom-style setting as shown in The Recruit, where the students sit dutifully in their desks and take notes on how to properly plant a bomb in a car.

Still, it's fun to imagine, while watching this, how well you would do in such a situation (personally, I think I'd be a pretty darn good spy). The fun level decreases after the halfway point, however, when Colin Farrell's character (who Pacino has marked as the most promising of all the students) gets caught up in some lame plot about computer viruses (virii?) and moles within the CIA.

The Recruit was a fairly entertaining movie, but not much more.