This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Action - Spies, R. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Colin Farrell, Al Pacino, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht
Director Roger Donaldson (The Bank Job and The World’s Fastest Indian), does a good job with this spy thriller that features a pretty good story with plenty of suspense and semi-surprising twists. Al Pacino shows flashes of his past glory, as he manages to perform without simply shouting his lines at the camera. The characters could have been more fully developed and the dialog needed to be punched up, but not a bad job, overall.
Colin Farrell is James Clayton, a computer whiz kid all set to start making the big bucks in Silicone Valley, when he is approached by a different kind of recruiter. Al Pacino is Walter Burke and he is recruiting for an outfit with a three letter acronym, but it sure ain’t IBM. Burke tantalizes Clayton with hints of secrets about his long deceased father and eventually manages to persuade him to join the CIA, where he is sent to ‘the farm’ for training as part of a group of recruits that includes a willowy beauty played Bridget Moynahan. There is plenty going on here and the story manages to keep the tension up as it progresses.
I am a sucker for spy films, be they cheesy James Bond, twisted, realistic (in my mind, anyway) features like the Tailor of Panama or glossy and far-fetched films like The Recruit. Action fans, may find it too slow and drama fans may find it too unbelievable, but for spy genre fans, its just right.
