Rating: 
Summary: Down on "the farm"
Review: In this movie, "the farm" is a training ground for new CIA agents. Robert DeNiro plays a CIA recruiter who persuades computer whiz Colin Farrell to join "the company". As a new recruit Farrell is put through rigorous training where he is told that "everything is a test" and "nothing is as it seems". He begins a relationship with Bridget Moynahan, only to be told that she is a double agent who is stealing information from the CIA. Farrell is assigned the job of catching her and bringing in the computer program that she has stolen. Things get pretty hectic from here on, but suffice it to say that this is a good evening's entertainment and the film contains plenty of twists and turns, most of which can be predicted, but which prove to be fun anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing special
Review: The Recruit was one of those movies where you can't say it's great, but you can't say it's bad either. It was about a guy who get's recruited by the CIA. He goes through training with a group of people, and graduates (or so he thinks) and get's an assignment. But then he realizes that everything is a test...That's it. Not much more to say about it.
Rating:
Summary: The Recruit - Nothing is what it seems
Review: As one of my 2 favorite actors (pacino and deniro) Al Pacino gives yet another great performance to improve a decent film. This was one of my favorite films of the year. the story line was good and so was colin farell.... but Pacino gives his usual emotion filled performance as the Good/Bad guy!!!! Nothing is what it seems!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Al Pacino can do much better
Review: It reminded me a lot of another "Major Failure" named Basic, of John Travolta, and it gave me the same astonishing impression out of a question without an answer: Why the big guys are making such silly movies? Does the ides fail in Hollywood the same manner the companies bankrupt in Wall Street?
In a quick view, there is no plot, but simple twisting and re-twisting of incidents, like guessing is the name of the game.
The film has an optimistic start, putting you in suspense for discovering how the CIA's special agents are trained, and not with the 'comic' impression you get from James Bond movies; however, disappointment is imminent very soon, where tutors in CIA does not distinguish Abu-Nidal Group (extreme left terrorist ended in small office in Baghdad) from Hamas (Muslim militant against Israeli occupation of Gaza and West Bank), without the help of the "Nothing is as it seems" reference or professor.
Then there is some weaving of the plot in the training and in the interaction between two fresh-made agents, but with big holes in the texture: like shooting and running in the subway in crowded cities is that easy eh? Then why Bin Laden didn't come to shelter there?
Finally an end that is imitating Scarface, but in a shrinking way that suit this metamorphosis movie. It happened that I bought this DVD with Basic together, so I had double disappointment, and maybe this is why I wanted to criticize both vigorously. I really believe that these movies meet the standards of the third world action cinema, if such cinema has any standards.
Rating: 
Summary: Actioner-packed mind-messer
Review: The Recruit was another one of those films (like Minority Report) that I was not expecting great things of. Roger Donaldson has gone and made one of those twisty-turny films that David Mamet (The Spanish Prisoner, House of Games) is so well-known for, except Donaldson has set his in a world of action, giving us the best of both worlds--a workout of brain and nerves. The Recruit stars Al Pacino and Colin Farrell as a CIA agent and his recruit, respectively. Pacino gives one of his more subtle recent performances, but Farrell carries the show. His James Clayton is a distraught, ambitious rebel who doesn't belong in the CIA, and is therefore so perfect for the job. The games begin early on as we find out quickly that "nothing is as it seems." During CIA training, everything is a test, which we find out in myriad ways. These could have easily turned obvious, and had I attempted to pick them out (a few, I did), I believe I could have easily done so. But, although I am a reviewer, I am a fan first and, having come to be entertained, I let The Recruit sweep me away with its labyrinthine plot, engrossed by Clayton's plights and his ability to be fooled. Not an idiot by any means, Farrell shows Clayton's realistic gullibility, especially when confronted by love in the form of Layla (Bridgette Moynahan), who may or may not be a double agent. Donaldson keeps the pacing and the guessing at top speed as events constantly become more and more complex, raising questions as to who can be trusted, what is real, and what is still simply a test. It's not hard to follow, but you need to pay attention; the clues are prominently placed, but we aren't knocked over the head with them. The Recruit is certainly one of the better recent action films and is also a terrific mindgame thriller. Fans of any and all will definitely find their own niche in this film. Get Recruit-ed and have some fun.
Rating:
Summary: A film which just limps along
Review: This is a sort of mystery thriller without car chases and gun battles. The plot is that a young man is recruited by a CIA operative played by Al Pacino and soon nothing is what is seems. The problem of course is that for such a film to work one has to care. In this rather slow moving film one does not care and one tends to go to sleep as the plot plods on and on. The film is devoted mainly to the training given to CIA recruits. What is portrayed is vaguely like the training done for those who join the Mossad. One wonders how realistic it is as a large number of actual CIA employees would be desk jockeys who would look at a computer all day. Never the less we follow our intrepid hero as he and his class mates learn the secrets of counter intelligence, or maybe just intelligence. The background is that the central character?s father might have been a CIA agent and this mystery gives the Al Pacino power to manipulate him. The central premise to the film is totally absurd and plot hole follows plot hole. The manipulation of the main character is so transparently stupid that one would think that six year old children would say, this is not real. The only positive side to the film is, no in fact there is not positive side to the film.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: Another predictable, boring, and totally unbelievable, overblown, pointless Hollywood production. Do we really need to see Al Pacino in another meaningless "mentor" film? I don't think so. One week his recruit is a bartender and voila, the next he's in the CIA...WOW! Can you believe that one? Avoid unless you like bad spy films.
Rating:
Summary: A fairly nuetral treatment of the CIA here.
Review: This is a mystery thriller without nudity, foul language, spurting blood, 8 car chases or long simulated sex scenes. It is NOT the typical anti-American diatribe or subtle assault against the CIA, a political party or the USA that we so often get from Hollywood. This is NOT typical Hollywood. 911 must have changed everything for many besides Ron Silver and Rosie. This movie is done as non-partisan and politically neutral and this is a big step for Hollywood! This is a story of the recruitment into the CIA of a bartender who also graduated number one at MIT, and is an expert in software. The rules are laid down; nothing is as it seems, everything is a test and never get captured. James Douglas Clayton, played by Colin Farrell, is recruited by CIA scout and a trainer at THE FARM, Walter Burke, played by Pacino. Burke tells James that he is a scary judge of talent, and that this judgment for talent is Burkes one true gift. James ends up as an operative of Burkes working at the CIA in Langley, famous for its Lilac bushes. There are plenty of twists and turns that keep you guessing, though my first guess as to where this was going was correct. Still it was a fun ride and I would watch it again.
Rating:
Summary: A SCARY Judge of Talent that smells of lilacs.
Review: A SCARY Judge of Talent that smells of lilacs. Suppose Hollywood made a mystery - thriller without nudity, foul language, spurting blood, 8 car chases or long simulated sex scenes. Suppose that the movie was NOT the typical anti-American diatribe or subtle assault against the CIA, a political party or the USA that we so often get from Hollywood. Holy cow, you would have this movie! This is NOT typical Hollywood. 911 must have changed everything for many.
One reviewer complained that this was not a celebration of those who fight the secret wars at the CIA. Maybe not, but it is as good as anything we can expect out of Hollywood. This movie is done as non-partisan and politically neutral and this is a big step for Hollywood! This is a story of the recruitment into the CIA of a bartender who also graduated number one at MIT, and is an expert in software. The rules are laid down; nothing is as it seems, everything is a test and never get captured. James Douglas Clayton, played by Colin Farrell, is recruited by CIA scout and a trainer at THE FARM, Walter Burke, played by Pacino. Burke tells James that he is a scary judge of talent, and that this judgment for talent is Burkes one true gift. James ends up as an operative of Burkes working at the CIA in Langley, famous for its Lilac bushes. There are plenty of twists and turns that keep you guessing, though my first guess as to where this was going was correct. Still it was a fun ride and I would watch it again.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and sombre - feels like something's missing though
Review: Colin Farrell is perfectly cast in his role as the Recruit. Al Pacino plays a sinister mentor better than anyone (remember the Devil's Advocate?). But even though the casting is perfect and the plot has so much potential - I still felt as though something was missing from the movie. Don't get me wrong - this is one of my new favorite DVD's - but at the point where the training ends and the real-world action begins, I think there's a dropoff in plot & quality...
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